


That’s A Real Life Bronze Age Priestess Sammy

by IsViciousMotivator



Series: The Crazy Tablet Lady And The Winchesters [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Canon, Mild Language, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:14:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 50,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23109067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsViciousMotivator/pseuds/IsViciousMotivator
Summary: Sam Winchester just needed to find his brother turned Knight of Hell and then cure him. Sounded simple enough. Except when you're a Winchester things rarely turn out that way. And Dean seems to have picked up an unusual companion on the way.
Relationships: Castiel (Supernatural)/Original Female Character(s), Dean Winchester/Original Female Character(s), Sam Winchester/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Crazy Tablet Lady And The Winchesters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052336
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

Sam Winchester’s brother was a demon.

What a fucking joke. The Winchester legacy, their whole life, filled with all that pain and loss and blood and just complete bloody misery, started because of those sulphur breathing black eyed sons of hell bitches, and now his brother was one of them. Well, granted it was Azazael, who had Yellow Eyes and there were certainly an angel or two also involved that basically led all four Winchesters to this point in their respective life, death, and afterlife, but Sam didn’t have time to fuss over details.

(But Little Nerdy Sammy loves details, practically sleeps with it on his bedside table)

More than half a decade ago Dean’s biggest fear, besides going to hell, was that he would come back from it as a demon. While he may never have said all of this to Sam, but the panicked mumblings of his brother while he slept said plenty enough. And Sam never said what was his biggest fear either, that he would have to plunge the demon-killing knife in whichever poor bastard (Or a really really hot chick. Think of the possibilities Sam. I mean, ‘If I could’ just means ‘I definitely would’) he was possessing. Because Sam would not be able to speak the words of the exorcism to send Dean back to Hell and then come back again. Rinse, wash, repeat.

Just thinking about that whole year infuriated him to his core. The same boiling uncontrollable anger where the only thing that brought even the slightest bit of relief was carefully and inventively planning Lilith’s demise. (Which left you wide open to Ruby’s manipulations and ending with you becoming a demon blood junkie. Remember? See, details are important little brother.)

However, things were different now. He wasn’t trying to hunt or kill any demon, though he wouldn’t mind taking a swipe at Crowley if given half a chance. If he could kill a demon just means he most definitely would kill the King of Hell.

Sam took a breath to forcefully calm himself down. If he were to succeed in tracking and then capturing Dean, he couldn’t lose control to his anger. His big brother was a fierce and dangerous man with years of training and experience of killing everything under the sun, but now with demonic powers and the First Blade, he might as well be unstoppable. While the plan sounded simple, catch and keep him bound long enough to perform the demon curing ritual, he knew this was going to be worse than the Trials. But it didn’t matter how long it may take or how taxing the task may be, there was no room for failure. Because whatever the thing his brother may have become at the moment, it wasn’t his brother, because Dean Fucking Winchester would under no circumstance abandon and leave Sam with just a measly scribbled note. And Sam Fucking Winchester would never stop looking for his big brother.

(Except when he hits a dog.)

What a fucking joke.

xXx

The whole Lester thing turned into one big cluster fuck. The Winchesters are much better at improvising anyways. Talking to the security guy at the strip club reassured him that he was on the right track. It was right at the moment when he was trying to think where Dean could have gone next, all the while avoiding that Inigo Montoya-wannabe Cole, that he received the answer to all his prayers from the cause of his continuous troubles.

Crowley.

Apparently, Demon Dean was too much even for the so-called King of Demons. As soon as he realised that he can’t control Dean and the Mark, he was quick to give Sam a call.

“The little prat's bad for business. He's...uncontrollable. Must be the Mark. Anyway, Dean's your problem now -- again, forever. And you can keep her as well, for now, considering they seem to have imprinted on each other. Cause I’m quite certain that he will rip off the head of anyone who suggests separating them. So get to it, Moose.” In his desperation to know more about Dean’s location, Sam altogether forgot to ask who the ‘her’ was.

Which turned out for the best, as it meant he didn’t plan anything. Just improvised when the time came, in the good old Winchester fashion.

xXx

Even as a demon, habits are had to break. Or rather drinking habits are hard to break. Sam should have known after the strip club of course Dean would be at a bar. From the window he could see that Dean was at the piano and right next to him was a woman. Guess even whoring habits die hard. He was pretty sure that he did not have the element of surprise, so why even bother trying. It’s not like he can get a jump on the guy all alone with only one functioning arm. While he would have preferred Castiel by his side and but running on low grace, he wasn’t going to make it in time and who knows if Crowley would be able to help again, considering he had just betrayed Demon Dean.

So it was now or never. Like always.

Except the moment never came and he ended up with a face-full of tear gas, all thanks to Cole. Although in all honesty he should be grateful to the sadistic vengeance fuelled killing machine. Turns out the time it took Cole to get his ass served to him by a demon was just the right amount of time for Sam to snap the sigil etched handcuffs on his brother. With Dean secured in the back of the family car, the only problem now was, what to do with the woman? Or even who is the woman? He saw her with his brother when he first entered the bar, and then proceeded to summarily dismiss her as just a bar floozy. But turns out things were complicated. A lot more complicated. That should be the official family freaking motto. Call it annoyance, anger, or just simple exhaustion but he couldn’t help but snap at her, demanding to know who she was and what was she doing with Dean.

“I am Muwatti.” squeaked the woman. She had an incredibly heavy accent that was difficult to place and was speaking slowly like she wasn’t used to talking aloud. Granted being questioned by a furious Sam Winchester, who was also holding the First Blade in his good hand, was certainly not making things easier for the poor woman. “I was cursed and locked inside a clay tablet for over three thousand years. Dean broke it and released me.”

“He broke the curse?” said Sam with disbelief heavily marring his voice.

“The tablet actually,” interrupted Dean from behind the glass of car, his deep voice only slightly muffled. “And somehow I ended up breaking the curse. It was purely by accident.” He continued. “I didn’t even know she was in that damn thing.” Dean was trying to look and sound aloof but it was evidently clear that he was coming up with entirely new methods for tearing off Sam’s limbs and other dangly bits attached to his body while he was at it. “The only reason I was even in that damn museum was because some of the Abaddon’s supporters were there to steal some other dust covered centuries old crap to do a spell.”

“Squirrel’s right.”said Crowley while sauntering close to the Impala and the Winchesters. Trust him to show up the moment, all threats and dangers to him have been neutralised and locked away. “No one was more surprised when our boy here shows up with her towing behind like a baby duckling.” He chuckled a bit before continuing, ‘“Little Princess here getting the culture shock to beat all culture shocks. I mean seriously, she’s amazed by potatoes. And don’t even get her started on swivel chairs. Or do, truth be told it is incredibly entertaining to watch.”

With every passing minute Sam could feel the mother of all headaches rapidly gaining momentum inside his skull, and he still had to collect all the items for the curing ritual. Does he take the blood to the priest? No that looks too much like an occult obsessed serial killer. Maybe take the priest to the hospital and then get it blessed by simply telling the priest…… some bullshit he would have have to come up later because Crowley was still talking.

“So, it was a pleasure doing business with you, Moose.” babbled Crowley . “But how about we stop wasting our time here and you hand over the girl and the Blade to me and then fuck off. Preferably forever.”

“What will you do with it?” questioned Sam. Handing over the Blade was easy. The further away that thrice damned ugly ass thing was from Dean, the better it would be for everyone involved. But she was another matter. “And what do you want with her?” For the first time, Sam took a good look at her. She had an olive complexion and was wearing what looked like Dean’s shirt and flannel over some leggings. She had identical tattoos of eight pointed stars on the back of both of her palms. But no shoes. She must have picked up the last bit of their conversation, if the unmasked fear on her face was any indication. For obvious reasons she didn’t want to be left alone in the tender care of King of Hell.

“Toss it into a volcano, leave it on the Moon.” boasted the demon. “I'll get creative. Believe me, I don't want Dean getting his hands on the precious any more than you do. Your brother knows I ratted. He tends to hold a grudge. I don't want to get…Boned. As for the girl, I simply thought it would be one less thing for you to worry your pretty little head. Wouldn’t want that hair to lose its lustrous shine.” Turning towards the woman, he continued an increasingly menacing tone, “Now Muwatti dear, if you will.“

This sent her in panic as she scrambled to get away for the demon. However before Crowley could get his hands on her, Sam inserted himself between them and with as much venom his drained body could muster, spat out,“You only get the Blade. Because you are not getting her. I mean, seriously Crowley, you think I’ll just let you have her after what you just told me. She has been under a curse for thousands of years only to be released to find herself in the company of demons. The last thing she needs is to be used for whatever sick and very much not good plans you clearly have for her.” hissed the younger Winchester. “Why the fuck would I do that? So just go to hell. Preferably for forever.” And the migraine has landed. Turning towards her he quickly much went back to shouting again and told her to get in the car, which she promptly did. “This doesn't make us square. If I see you again —“

“Oh, stop it, Samantha. No one likes a tease.” With that he zapped away.

He had to take a deep breath. And four more after that. He also had to make a mental note to grab as many painkillers he can, the really good strong kind, as soon as possible when he leaves again to grab the blessed blood. He finally sat down in the driver’s seat to begin their long journey back home, with Muwatti in the front with him and Dean in the back.

“That hero complex of yours still alive and kicking little brother.” Remarked his big brother. “Knew you couldn’t resist trying to rescue the damsel from the big bad demon.”

Sam’s only reply was to command Dean to shut up. It would only be later, much later that he would remember Crowley’s remarks about these two imprinting on each other. Because if he in a state to notice it, he would have seen that even as a demon Dean was relieved to see that she was coming with them to the and wasn’t with Crowley.

But to be fair, mother of all migraine.


	2. Chapter 2

“You call that mercy?” roared Dean. “Imagine you spend your whole life hunting down the guy that knifed your father. When you finally find him... He whips you like a dog. How do you think that feels?” he asked with an evil smirk on his face. Which in the dark just made him look…….well demonic really. “That kid's gonna spend his whole life knowing that he had his shot and that he couldn't beat me. That ain't mercy. That's the worst thing I could have done to him. And what I'm gonna do to you, Sammy... Well, that ain't gonna be mercy, either.”

“You know what Dean…..- Just shut up. Jerk.” Came Sam’s feeble retort. If the mistreatment of the Impala wasn’t an indication, the fact that he didn’t get a ‘Bitch’ in return simply highlighted how dark Dean had gone. Having done the demon curing ritual only once, he had no idea what to really expect. Would the Mark make things more difficult? Dean was relatively a newer demon, does that make the ritual easier if the demon is not centuries old like Crowley or would the newness make him more resilient against it? He wasn’t going to get any answers until he began the damn process, and obsessing over all the different ways it could go wrong or drowning himself in doubt was not going to help Dean or anyone. Certainly not when one was driving in the middle of the night with only one good hand and a demon in the backseat.

Just to give his sanity some relief, he decided to turn his attention towards the other occupant in the car besides the Winchesters, who hadn’t said a word since they left Crowley and also an unconscious Cole behind in that alley, now that he thought about it. “You said your name was Muwatti right?” inquired Sam. “And you’ve been under a curse and were locked inside a…. What was it again?”

“She was sealed inside a clay tablet that I knocked it over and smashed it in the museum-“

“I was serious about shutting up” interrupted Sam. “Fine. Clay tablet. For thousands of years. How did that happen?”

“I…..well I do not know much about it.” Came her reply in a whisper. Sam had to really concentrate to hear anything. Which wasn’t a bad thing, considering it kept his mind away from thinking about his demon brother in the back. “Before I was sealed inside the tablet, I was attacked by someone and lost consciousness, never saw their face. When I woke up the ritual had already started, I could make out some chanting but I was still too fuzzy to make out anything.”

“Chanting? What kind of ritual locks people up in tablets through chanting?” he enquired. Once a mystery presented itself he couldn’t help himself but go around poking it with a stick. “More importantly, if you were cursed and have been locked inside a tablet for over three thousand years how can you able to speak English?” Even if it meant overwhelming the mystery with too many questions and not giving her a moment to answer them.

However it seemed that she decided to go with it, or maybe she thought she didn’t really have a choice. “I could still hear everything while inside it.” she answered back. “Most of the time it was absolute silence. However more than a hundred years ago archaeologists excavated the tablet in Hattusa. Where I used to live. They did know that the script was Cuneiform but none of them could read Hittite.”

“The Bronze Age Hittites? So you are an actual Hittite?” he speculated.

“I told you didn’t I?” Dean asked Muwatti, “This one was going to go mental over all the questions he has for you.” His brother’s judgemental tone from the backseat didn’t even register as Muwatti tried to answer Sam’s questions before he could interrupt her again with another one.

“Yes Dean, you did warn me. And yes Sam, Bedřich called it the Bronze Age as well and my people are the Hittites. Were the Hittites.”

“Who’s Bedřich?” he enquired.

“Bedřich Hrozný led the excavation when it all first began and eventually would decipher the language.” she replied. “The very first word he figured out came from my tablet. That is how I learned to speak your languages, by listening to a Czech translate Hittite into English for his German colleagues. Also the museum tours. More they did it, more I ended up learning. It does mean that I can’t read anything. I had never even seen the letters until I was out.”

“That’s brilliant. Truly brilliant.” he marvelled. “You managed to learn a completely different language system simply by just listening to people translating ancient texts.”

“There wasn’t much to do in there.” she pointed out. “Picking up languages for a hundred years was a welcome change when compared to listening to all the rats and insects around me for thousands more. Or even listening to my entire civilisation fade away and every single person I knew simply die out.” When she got quiet again, Sam snuck a peak at her before turning away. The look on her face spoke volumes. He has encountered all kinds of supernatural creations since he was a child, things that were simply legends and nightmares for the rest of the world. But a person from the past was truly a wonder for him. There were so many more questions he wanted to ask her, not to mention was the whole thing really a coincidence that after all that time it would be a Winchester, who’d smash the tablet and break the curse. Again he turned looked at her, if only from the corner of his eyes.

A part of him recognised that look. His impatience to get to the Bunker as soon as possible couldn’t possibly compare to what she would have felt in that tablet. Having no idea about the whom, why, or for how much longer. All alone. For three thousands years.

“You really have no idea how you ended up in that thing?” he asked.

“No.” she replied. “It - whatever it was - happened too fast.” She let out a laugh before continuing. “During the initial days out here, it felt like I have finally gone mad due to the isolation and my insane mind has come up all of this.” she said while waving at Dean. “But even with all the imagination of A’as - the Hittite goddess of wisdom and knowledge -“ she quickly replied when she intuitively knew what his next question was going to be, before continuing on, “I still could not have come up with these things.”

“Things?”

“All of the things Sam. This whole world of just things.” she said in an incredulous tone while pointing all around the car. “You have this thing so much faster than any horse that can take from one place to another at a consistent high speed as long as there is land. Or another thing to talk to anyone in the world as long as they also have a thing with them as well, which as far as I can tell everyone has that thing. And Dean told me there are things that can fly like birds with people inside of them and take them across the mountains and oceans.”

Sam bursted out laughing. It was a deep belly laugh that shook his entire body, left him breathless, and brought tears to his eyes. He barely managed to keep the car on the road and keep the tears at bay. But her raw observations of the world around her was just too innocent and hilarious. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he would have laughed like that. Even Dean let out a chuckle or two. After catching his breath he pointed out to her that all of those things really did have names.

She huffed in annoyance and said, “Of course I know that they have names Sam. Need I remind you I have only been out for less than a month. And when I wasn’t rendered speechless after witnessing the marvels of modern technology, I was left numb with fear as I always surrounded by demons. You are the first human I have been allowed to talked to, since I was released. The very first thing I saw was this one black eyed thing,” she said while pointing at Dean, “killing all the other black eyed things. It would only be later that I'd come to understand that black eyed things mean demons.” She then turned her attention towards Sam and said, “So apologies if I don’t know the name of each and every one of the million things available here. Not to mention to actually know how they could possible exist and work. Like what happens to the flying things when they reach the edge of the world ?”

Despite Sam’s herculean effort, another deep belly aching laugh escaped him. This time he couldn’t stop the tears from escaping. It was only a miracle that the car (or the faster than a horse thing) didn’t leap off the road. However Muwatti didn’t have much appreciation for his reaction, if the displeased expression on her face was anything to go by. But how can he really be blamed, because this time he definitely heard Dean openly laughing as well. After calming down once again, he tried to explain that the planes as they were called, were safe from falling off as the world was round.

The look of displeasure quickly turned to one of amazement and disbelief, leading her to repeating his words back at him.

“Yes. The world is round. Like a giant orb or ball.” He made a fist to demonstrate this.

Her dark eyes zoned in on his fist and looked at it as it had personally offended her somehow. However before he could apologise on behalf of his offending hand, she turned around to look at his brother and began scolding him. Proper scolding him. It was truly a weird sight for him to witness. There weren’t many people left alive on this planet who could get away with that sort of behaviour with Dean Winchester. Yet here was this tiny woman in a shirt way too big for her, which made her even tinier somehow, reprimanding the Demon Dean. Granted she out-aged him by several several centuries.

“I don’t get it why are you mad?”

“I’m mad because I know what strippers and strips clubs are because of you, but in all that time we have been together, you couldn’t even mention that the world is round .” This time she made her own fist and added “Basically a giant orb.”

Sam couldn’t help but try to catch his brother’s expression in the rear view mirror. The man/demon looked like a dear caught in headlight, who barely managed to splutter out a reply, “I can’t be blamed for that. Do you realise how vast the scope of the things I needed to cover for you to make any sense of anything? It’s practically endless. I tried my best.”

“In that case, your best can never be considered good enough sadly.”

Muwatti clearly had no interest in hearing the rest of his excuse, as she spun back to face the front of the car, and let out an irritated sigh. However Dean continued on as if she wasn’t blatantly ignoring him, until she asked him to stop talking. And amazingly he did. Even though it was obvious from his face in the mirror that he would have liked to continue.

For a while everyone was silent, due to various reasons. Annoyance for Muwatti. Anger for Dean. And just plain amazement for Sam. He decided to stretch out the silence for a little while longer, if only to gather his thoughts and frame his next words very carefully, as it was a valid fear he would piss off both of his travelling companions and push them over the edge. After taking a few deep breaths, he asked if she ever tried to escape the demons.

“I was safe with Dean.”

“She was absolutely safe with me, little brother.”

Both of them spoke at the same time. His gravelly voice and her melodic tone almost overlapping each other. Sam wanted to ask them if they that rehearsed this before. Wait a minute is that how people feel when they're talking to the Winchester brothers. But he decided to proceed with the more reasonable one. “What made you think that a demon would keep you safe?”

Dean was clearly gearing up to say something, but before he could utter one word, Muwatti interrupted him by saying, “When Dean broke the tablet and released me, something else happened. Something between the magic inside the tablet and the magic of the Mark.”

“What does the Mark have to do with you?” asked Sam.

“Nothing.” came Dean’s reply. “When I knocked down the display in the museum and touched the smashed up tablet, just touched it mind you, the Mark started burning and then there was a flash. Almost blinded me outright. The curse didn’t break because the tablet was broken, for some reason the Mark undid the magic binding her to it and released her.”

“How do you know it was the Mark? Why would the Mark do anything like that?”

“I don’t know Sam.” said Muwatti. “Neither of us know the how or why. But it could only have been the Mark.” As she was saying this she raised her shirt and started to lower her tight past her hips. “Because the moment I was out and found myself on the floor I felt this intense burning right here on the side of my left thigh and this was there.” Sam had to pull over on the side of the road, to see whatever she wanted to show him. As it was too dark, he had to turn on the flashlight on his phone and pointed the light where she was pointing. And right there at the outer side of her upper left thigh was what he swore a dark tattoo of the Mark.

So that's what Crowley meant when he said imprinted on each other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end notes for translations

Since the curse had been broken and Muwatti had been released from the tablet, her wonder over this new world had been a constant part of her. Like the nose in one’s vision, invisible until the moment one really thought about it and then, there it was. Like always. She also had to repeatedly remind herself this world wasn’t a new one. The world, even in its round form, was the same, she’s the one that has become the aberration. She should be dust right now, her ashes mixed in with those of her people andof her family amongst the red sands of Hattusa. Instead she is in a land an entire ocean away from everything she ever knew and stuck with two men, who decided to stop their very important journey to discuss their feelings. Which consisted of Sam trying to but then losing control over his facial expressions and Dean insulting and cutting his younger brother down with his words.

It greatly amused her that of all the things that would remain unchanged in the world it would be the people, or rather their nature. She was remindedof what her mother had told her long ago, that all the empires and all the civilisations are like sand dunes in the desert, they may move, they may get bigger, or one day they would be completely swept out of existence overnight, but the sand grains were human and specifically human nature, because no matter how strong you may be, you cannot crush sand. However if you’re clever enough you can mould it in any shape you want. It all depended on how much you knew about human nature and if you wanted to survive you always had to know the most than anyone else. One of her many convoluted and complicated lessons, which would make sense only years later. But her anni’s knowledge and lessons can neither protect her nor help her now. Didn’t help anni either, cause she is dead. Just like her father and just like her brothers. So what exactly would be the point in thinking about them?

Muwatti turned her attention back to the Winchester brothers and couldn’t help but chuckle silently to herself. Such strange creatures. How to figure them out? As a demon, Dean was the easiest, simply he was a dark swirl of apathy and base desires. No different from any other demon she met in the past month. Then there was Sam, and the stream of information didn’t seem to stop with this one. It was obvious he would do anything for his brother and wasn’t going to allow anything to stand in his way. Not even his own frazzled state. Although she completely understood that she certainly wasn’t helping the poor man. She didn’t know much about the what type of lives the Winchester brothers have lived up until now. How does a living human end up as a demon anyway? But looking at Sam, it was evident that he was a man who was used to facing troubles and was most comfortable when all his questions were answered at rapid speed.

After Sam saw the duplicate Mark on her, he had to step out the car and when it looked like he wasn’t coming back any time soon she had to ask Dean what was his brother doing.

“You wanna to talk to me now?” which only made her smile. “Well he is making that weird face where he looks like he sucking on a lemon so he’s probably in pain and wishing he had some pills for it. I wish he’d hurry up with the drive so that I can kill him when we reach the Bunker.”

Was leaving the tablet worth it?

* * *

Sam’s headache was killing him, and the painkillers and the Bunker were still so far away. And they were going to stay just as far away if he didn’t go back in the car and started driving. As much he may want to ignore this new cluster fuck that they would have to deal with eventually, but right now Dean was the priority. He took a few more calming breaths, which not so surprisingly weren’t helping, and he decided he was ready to get back in the car. He opened to door to the driving seat only to catch Muwatti say “Yes, the stars weren’t in there.”

“What did you say?”he asked her with an edge to his voice. Safe to say his patience was running low to all things related to both of his travel companions.

“Clearly she’s used to being all alone and hasn’t gotten used to being around people again.” Dean chimed in “So she talks to herself aloud. A lot. You’ll learn to just go with it after a while.” 

“Clearly the two of you know a lot about each other and clearly have made an impression on each other. Or rather imprinted on each other.” Sam retorted. However neither of them were going to engage with him in his current state. Dean was laying back on the seat and was nonchalantly looking outside the window, whereas Muwatti was looking at her hands, absentmindedly tracing and retracing the eight pointed star tattoos on them. And he couldn’t help himself but ask her about them.

“These are the symbols of Ishtar, the goddess of war and love.”she explained and continued on “I got them when I was ten and was made her High Priestess.” Turns out this was brand new information for Dean cause he exclaimed out “You’re a real life Bronze Age priestess? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“High Priestess actually. And exactly when was I supposed to share this with you, in the middle of your horrible singing maybe? The only reason I ended up becoming one was because my father wanted to marry me off against my mother’s wishes. Which is why she took me to the temple to keep me away from atti and his guards. And once the initiation ceremony was over and I had become the Alhuesragal, no one could take me away because the temple guards were under clear instructions to cut off the hands of any man who would dare touch me as well as they would be angering the goddess.”

“Wasn’t your father mad after that?” Questioned Sam.

“I’m sure he was. Atti lost out on my bride price after all.” She continued to elaborate “However my anni was the Tawananna or the Chief Priestess of all the Hittites, the most powerful woman in the empire,not to mention incredibly wealthy, which meant atti wasn’t going to do anything. Not that it made a difference in the end, I had plenty of half-sisters, and the other party was only interested in arranging a marriage with the emperor’s daughter, didn’t really matter which one they got. It was motherwho decided that it wasn’t going to be her only daughter.”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Sam. “If the emperor was your father, then who was your mother exactly?”

“Anni was the Tawananna as well as the empress. She was Empress Henti. And her husband was my father, Emperor Suppiluliumas. Why is that confusing for you?” She asked Sam when saw the dumfounded expression on his face and turned around to look back at Dean, only to find the same expression on his and added “For both of you?” 

Sam looked up towards the rearview mirror to catch his brother’s eyes, “Dean, that’s a goddamn Bronze Age princess.”

“As well as a real life Bronze Age priestess, Sammy.”

“High Priestess actually.” corrected Muwatti.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anni - Mother
> 
> Atti - Father
> 
> Alhuesra - Priestess
> 
> Alhuesragal - High Priestess
> 
> Tawananna - Chief Priestess


	4. Chapter 4

Dean could sense Sam was back with the blessed blood. Even deep inside the Bunker, inside the Dungeon, he could feel his little brother’s life force. As a demon his senses were always on overdrive, to a point where he could even feel the molecules in the air change with every beat of a person’s heart and with every breath that the person takes. Also their life force. It pulses, and trembles and jiggles, and shivers, and vibrates. But his favourite was feeling it die out and wither away slowly, to literally feel all those tiny vibrations die out one by one until it there was nothing but stillness. It didn’t matter whether they were human or not. He could silence all the vibrations, all the pulses. Like his brother’s for example. Because when he escapes he is going to particularly enjoy silencing it forever. There have been many things that have tried to kill a Winchester and have never quite succeeded, at least not on a permanent basis. It would be an interesting exercise to see how successful will a Winchester be in killing another Winchester. Because there was only one way this thing was going to end, only one brother surviving. That thought brought so much joy to his now blackened heart, he couldn’t help but have a little laugh.

“The way that Sam has been nervous about this ritual, made me think that survival and success are supposed to be difficult. So why are you in a humorous mood?” 

He was brought out of his murderous musings, by the question posed by the woman sitting in front of him. After securing Dean in the Dungeon, Sam took Muwatti back up and had left her in the kitchen in the hopes she would find something for herself to eat, before leaving soon after. Though the dumb bitch forgot that she can’t read and would probably end up eating soap or bleach or even the cardboard packaging itself before eating any of the actual fucking food. Having nothing else to do, Muwatti slowly found her way back to the Dungeon, despite Sam’s clear instructions to not go near Dean. Understandably the big brave hero Samuel wanted to protect the poor little cursed princess from the big bad demon Dean. Conveniently forgetting that she has been living with him for the past month, and not only did he not hurt her but also protected her from the other demons, now didn’t he? Especially from Crowley. That damn weakass parasite was always curious about her. Always asking question related about her. However never directly asking her. Not that she was going to be forthcoming with the King of Hell mind you, but neither he nor the other demons ever talked to her directly much. Firstly, they were smart enough to realise that Dean didn’t appreciate any of them coming near her, and secondly, the way her life force behaved so strangely ended up unnerving all of the demons. All except Dean.

Like all the livings things, her life force vibrated and pulsated as well. However it was so much more than just that, it felt like like the damn thing was actually singing and Dean could feel her presence at all times. Even when she was far away from him, he could feel the song of her life force. Right there, just under his skin. Just like the Mark. Exactly like the Mark. Her and the Mark and even those damn shattered pieces of that damn tablet in the Impala’s trunk that contained her for all those fucking years, they all vibrated and pulsated at a whole different fucking frequency that drowned out all the other things that were around him. No, they all sang to him. He has been feeling her presence the moment she appeared right in front of eyes in a flash of bright light. And if that particular magic trick and the different way that her life force behaved wasn’t enough to make Dean sit up and pay attention, the manifestation of a duplicate Mark tattoo on her thigh certainly did. He still didn’t know what the actual fuck had happened, just like he didn’t know squat about the fucking how or the fucking why.

* * *

There were many things that had managed to scare Sam, truly scare him, throughout his long hard life. Though he never expected that it would be the sight of an empty chair in the Dungeon that would shoot right up to the top of that particular list. At least the silver lining in all of this was that Dean wasn’t leaving anytime soon. He wouldn’t leave the Bunker without killing Sam first. Isn’t that just brilliant. And so Dean Winchester was now hunting his little brother. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. He was literally being stalked right now. Again fuck.

He had grabbed the keys from the Map Room and was heading towards the Electrical Room, passing the kitchen on his way, when he heard Dean heading right there. He was just about to leave that entire area, when he remembered that’s where he had again left Muwatti, this time with food, when he came back with the blood. Obviously he can’t leave the poor woman with his brother in his current state, but how was he going to fight with just one good hand and no weapons. Before he could come up with anything, he could hear them talking. “I’m guessing that because you still have black eyes, the ritual didn’t work?” He heard Muwatti ask Dean, who replied back promptly, “I put the stop to it.”He could hear someone rifling though the drawers, probably Dean.

“Where’s Sam then? Did you-“ She was interrupted by Dean saying “Not yet. Shouldn’t rush these things.”

“Things meaning killing your own brother with a hammer of all things. Couldn’t find an axe, I assume. Do you really think that would be wise?”

So Dean found a hammer. Great. Just fucking great. Why does his luck suck so much? Just fucking why?

“And who made you the expert on what is and what isn’t wise, priestesss?”

“High Priestess actually.” Seriously woman, who corrects an unchained demon, while he is holding a hammer in his hand. “And you really could benefit from the advise by someone who has killed two of her brothers and a dozen more of her half-brothers. Because the thing about fratricide is that there comes a time when you just have to do it instead of talking about it always.”

Sam was sure that Dean was going to strike her, he could feel his brother’s anger radiating through the walls. Instead he simply he asked her her what would be the Hittite word for a demon. She replied back to him saying, “Kallar uttar. Literally means the dark thing.”

“Well in that case my dear High Priestess, after this dark thing has finished bashing Sam Winchester’s head in with this very hammer, you and the dark thing really need to have a long chat. For more life advise, that is.”

“Sure, if you say so. But you’re going to have to catch Sam first.”

Dean must have decided to follow her advise, her very bad advise in Sam’s opinion, because the next thing Sam heard was “Come on, Sammy! Don’t you want to hang out with your big brother? Spend a little quality time?” No, thank you. Raincheck? With that Dean stormed out of the kitchen, thankfully in the opposite direction, without ever seeing Sam.

Would you look at that his luck finally turned around.

He started heading towards the Electrical Room when he came face to face with Muwatti, on her way out of the kitchen. Which reminded him “Why would you say all of that to him? Did you really kill your brothers?”

“Because I knew that he would get angry and leave. Besides him being angry is better for you as well. Angry Demon Dean makes a lot more mistakes than a calm one. And you should be more concerned about your own brother rather than what I did or didn’t do to mine.”

That does it.

“Now listen here, princess. I think I know my brother a lot better than you-“

“But I’m the one who knows the demon.” she interrupted him in the middle of his indignant self-righteous tirade. Good thing because he really had no idea where that train of thought was heading towards. “That thing isn’t your brother. That is a demon with whom I have definitely spent more time than you and Idefinitely know him a lot better than you.” She paused to take a deep breath to calm down and placed her hand on his injured one before continuing, “Look, you’re right. I don’t know your brother, simply because I have never met him and I truly want to do that. However that is not going to happen if you don’t stop thinking of it as saving your brother but rather think of it as a demon you have to defeat.”

“You’re right.” He only said that because she was right. He has been hesitant this whole time, worried about what was happening to his brother. But it wasn’t Dean that was in pain but the demon, and he was sure about one thing, Dean would want him to finish the curing ritual, one way or another. “I do have a plan. Come with me. We have to go to the Electrical Room.” He grabbed her hand, which was still on his injured one, with his good hand and both of them started walking.

“Wunderbar. Cause the thing is that I survived numerous wars and countless assassination attempts, not to mention the motherfucking plague, and then ended up in that cursed tablet anyways. Which means it would really suck that I got out only to die in this subterranean shithole.”

“Who taught you how to swear?”

If he had turned around he would have seen the Hittite equivalent of the ‘seriously’ expression, but he never did. She answered him nevertheless, “Archaeologist are people too Sam. They get frustrated just as anyone else.”

* * *

“Well ... Look at you. Do it. It’s all you.”

Sam lets the knife fall, and Dean smiles as his eyes go black, who never even felt the arms suddenly come around him and tightly grab him. It was clear that their angel friend was still quite weak, but even then Sam was absolutely sure he wasn’t going to let go of his brother. It was a nice thing to be finally certain of something. It would also be nice to get black out drunk when this is all over.

“Dean, it’s over. It’s over.” said Castiel, “Sam, we need to get him to the Dungeon and finish the treatments.” 

“Yeah. Yes. Yeah.” Well done Sam, you clearly have a way with words. “Will you be able to get him there?”

“Yes, I -“ Something was clearly distracting him and asked, “Is there someone there? Around that corner.” 

“Yes. She’s….Hang on” Sam then turned around while still keeping his brother in his line of sight. The man came at him with a hammer, so sue him for still being on edge, and asked her to come over. When she turned around the corner he added, “This is our friend, Castiel. He’s an angel. And Cas, this is - “

“Muwatti.”

“How did you-“

However Castiel interrupted him, “You’re the lost Hittite princess.” His attention was now completely on Muwatti now and was addressing her alone, ignoring the Winchesters, even the demon one, mind you. “And your mother……Henti.”

“What is happening with these two Sammy?” asked Dean “Are we curing me or not?”

“Cas, maybe we should do the ritual thing first and then we can have the history lesson.”

But Castiel continued on as if neither of the brothers had just said anything at all. “The lost Hittite empress.” 

“Who?” Exclaimed both of the brothers at the same time.

“He’s talking about my anni. My mother, I mean.” Replied Muwatti. “When I was fourteen, she disappeared without a trace. Just vanished in the air. No one could find her. Just like I vanished and no one could find me.”

After a long stretch of silence Dean spoke out, “Wow, just fucking wow. I mean, come on, wow. Seriously? Are there any other family members of yours that just happen to vanish without a trace and no one could find them either?”

“My twin brother Zannanza went missing on his way to Egypt, where he was meant to marry Ankhesenamun, the widow of Tutankhamun, and was never heard of again. Just vanished. Does that answer your question?”

Wow, cursed families huh?

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of the historical characters so far mentioned have been real. In fact the stories of Henti and Zannanza mysteriously disappearing are also real. One of the many reasons why I was inspired to write this story. Muwatti, never disappeared and as far as I can tell, lived a normal enough life, and she wasn’t a priestess either.


	5. Chapter 5

“I’m glad you’re here, man.”

Cas started to leave, but turned back around to face Dean once again and said, “Hey, maybe you should um ... take some time before you get back to work. Allow yourself to heal. It’s, uh ... I don’t know. The timing might be right. Heaven and Hell - they seem reasonably back in order. It’s quiet out there.” 

“Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Really good idea. Pretty sure Sam isn’t going to have any complains in that department. Can’t even remember when was the last time we took some time off for ourselves. Wanna join us?”

“Thank you for asking but no, I still have several things to take of. Primarily one being finding a more permanent solution to my depleting grace.” Castiel was once again proceeded to leave the room but once again turned around to ask, “Dean, how did she end up here with you guys? How did the two of you even find Muwatti? Don’t know why I should be surprised. If anyone was going to find the lost Hittite princess, it would be the Winchesters.”

Oh yeah, that’s still a thing. She is still a thing. I mean, she isn’t a thing. She’s a person. It’s just that the thing is the thing. Great. He’s talking like Muwatti now. 

“You know what,” replied Dean, “They are very good questions and have very good and lengthy answers that can wait till the next morning, if you don’t mind. Because I would like a get at least some rest before we get into that……thing.”

“Understandable.”

“Where is she by the way?”

“She seemed tired, so I put her up in one of the empty rooms, at the end of the corridor. She’s sleeping now.”

“Good. A month of being surrounded by demons is not good for anyone.”

With that Castiel finally left the room and Dean was finally alone with his thoughts once again and closed his eyes. Truly his worst companions. He tried to kill Sam, his little brother. How could even hope to be forgiven? He finally managed to calm down the maelstrom inside his mind and found himself in a stone corridor illuminated by fire braziers. He could swear he could even feel the heat radiating off of them. He touched the wall closest to him, and they certainly felt real. Cold and real. Real stone.

“How did you get here?” He turned towards the voice and came face to face with Muwatti. She looked different. Or rather she looked exactly like she did when he first saw her that night in the museum. She was in similar clothes and jewellery, like the ones still in Baby’s trunk. He looked around a few more times before he asked her where were they.

“Hattusa.” she replied.

“Hattusa? Your home? Your home from the past, you mean? We were just in the Bunker. How can we be in Hattusa?” This was beyond even their usual level of weird.

“Because I’m dreaming of it. I’ve been dreaming of it ever since I was freed. Come here.” With that she grabbed his hands and dragged him towards a giant window. “We are on one of the hundred towers surrounding the upper city, and from here you have the best view of the lower city.” They had reached the window’s edge and were now overlooking the ancient city. The ancient dead city. There were thousands and thousands of people on the streets. He could hear music, he could smell food being cooked, he could hear the people talking. All those people who have been dead for thousands of years.

“There are so many people out.” he amazed.

Dean saw that she was smiling. But it wasn’t a happy one. “The army is back in the city. Atti has just come back after defeating the kingdoms of Arzawa and Babylon on the western front. This is their welcoming celebration. Not that they were a match for our military anyways but when you’re the ones in power, always over-exaggerate your accomplishments. Can’t have the peasants doubting their 21.5% in taxes are not being well spent. After performing a few rituals to thank the gods and goddesses for their safe return and glorious victory, it is going to a night full of alcohol and debauchery for the whole capital.” 

“Sign me up for that party.”

“Atti has also come back with a new wife, the Babylonian princess, Malignal. All part of this new alliance. True sign of old age, you starts craving peace with your lifelong enemies.” she said sardonically. “And a week after Malignal enters the palace, anni disappears. This was the last time we would be in the same room at the same time, all together.”

“You think she was behind it?” he asked.

She looked straight into Dean’s eyes and calmly said, “She had the most to gain. We would realise only later that her father had already bribed most of the influential nobles in our court, who will soon after start demanding that Malignal should be made the new Tawananna. Only a simpleton would think that would be a coincidence.” She turned around and looked down at the city once again. “We’re a theocratical monarchy, the political leaders and religious leader are one and the same. The emperor and the Tawananna are - were -“ she corrected herself before continuing, “meant to be co-rulers. She was his chief adviser and the head of his counsel of nobles. In the absence of the emperor she ruled as the regent. Her word was the same as those of the emperor. Not to mention her position was absolute and was for life and thus many times the previous emperor’s chief priestess continues on with the new emperor. Pissed off his empress without a doubt.”

Dean let out a nervous chuckle and whispered, “I have to honest with you, history wasn’t my favourite subject even as a child.” Maybe she didn’t hear him or maybe she wasn’t bothered, it was her dream after all, and continued on as if he hadn’t spoken a single word. He was still concerned with how did he ended up in her dream of all things.

“If she became the new Tawananna, then my brothers and I would have had our throats slit in our sleep the moment she gave birth to a son. All of them thought the moment we lost our mother, we would turn into helpless children, who would not only ignore every wrong being done to them, but also walk away from our birthright and surrender it to the woman who tore apart our family. Which is why it was decided that she would become the new empress certainly, but I would become the new Tawananna. Overnight I became the most powerful woman in the empire, possibly one of the most powerful woman in the whole of Anatolia and Levant. All at the age of fourteen. And years later I would sign Malignal’s execution orders myself. I wanted revenge so desperately and for what reason, it’s not like my anni came back. She was most certainly dead. And no amount of power or wealth was going to change that.”

Dean felt like he was punched in the stomach with a brick. “Yeah, revenge does leave a bitter taste in your mouth. You give it all, convincing yourself it would all worth it, and it is to some point. But then you end asking yourself, now what?”

Once again, she turned to look at him. Quite intensely he might add, like she was seeing him for the first time. He was going to point this out to her, however he realised she truly was seeing him for the first time. First time seeing the human him, at least. 

“Whom did you lose?”

“Our mother. Demon. I was four.” And then he ended up not only befriending a demon but also fucking became one. She looked like she was going to say something to him, but decided against it. Instead she only said that it was time to wake up.

The stone walls around him melted away. He was surrounded in complete darkness and upon opening his eyes he was back in his room. Immediately he was on his feet and walking briskly towards her room at the end of the corridor. He found her sitting on the bed with her back against the headboard, with a look of pure amazement on her face when she saw him at the door. 

“You really were there.” she said. 

Yes, he was.

* * *

Sam was back at the Bunker with the food and alcohol, and joined the angel sitting in the library. “I thought you would have left by now but just saw Naomi waiting outside in the car. She waved at me. You know you can invite her in.” He placed all the bags on the library table and stared to empty them out. “Angels and us have never had an easy relationship, but you trust her and she’s your friend. What I’m trying to say is that we can trust her as well.”

“I appreciate that, Sam.” Cas replied. “But at the moment - I mean, it’s alright. I’m sure Naomi doesn’t mind waiting. Outside.” The angel seems to have short-circuited. Did things get awkward between those two. But before he could ask him, Dean and Muwatti walked in the library. With incredibly sombre impressions on their faces.

Seriously. They couldn’t even get one fucking night.

* * *

These three certainly loved shouting.

“Dean, we all would really like to know what the fuck has exactly happened here. People don’t just walk into other people’s dream for no goddamn reason.”

Shouting seems to be their primarily way of communicating for some reason.

“You think I don’t know that dumbass. I have no clue why this thing happened. It just happened. For the first time. She has been falling asleep with no problems this past month, and nothin like this has ever happened.”

Or rather they shout when things go wrong, however ever since Muwatti has encountered the elder Winchester brother, can’t believe people have two names now, things go wrong. A lot. And so they shout. A lot.

“That can be easily explained. As a demon, Dean was not sleeping. There was no need for that. But this was the first time he was asleep at the same time her, after becoming a human again.”

“Yes, that. Cas is right. I never slept as a demon.”

The shouting seem to be accompanied by lively facial expressions and even more excited hand gestures.

“Then, I don’t know Dean. Did you accidentally eat some African dream root before dozing off?”

Standing also seems to play a big part.

“How does one accidentally eat some dream root, Sammy?”

They had been standing for some time now.

“Also your brother would have also needed to eat her hair along with the dream root. So the question should be when did Dean swallow some of her hair.”

This time both of the brothers shouted, “What?”

Every once in a while one of them would pull on the chair in front of them to sit, but angrily push it away and continue standing - is the angel really talking about eating hair - once again.

Speaking of angels.

“What is an angel?” She presented the question to all three of them. Since the two of them had entered the library, Dean had done all the talking. Not that she was complaining. Despite having lived a life full of rituals and ceremonies about appeasing all manners of deities, besides the curse she never had encountered anything remotely supernatural. Safe to say she was in unchartered territories, and wasn’t really equipped to deal with any of it. Besides, the brothers and the angel were proving to be quite entertaining to watch and also observe. The Winchesters, seriously when did the second name become such a popular choice, asking the same question at the same time was quickly becoming her favourite part. Was it always a question or did they randomly just say things as well? Would she have liked a second name? No, she already had too many titles. 

After hearing her voice, the three of them quieted down and looked towards Muwatti. And continued staring. Did they forget she was there? How? Wasn’t her being there the reason they were shouting anyway?

Finally, Castiel decided to put her out of her misery and answer her, “I think the easiest way to explain, would be to give you the Hittite term for it.” He paused for a minute. He might not be as bad as the brothers, but he evidently loved the drama as well didn’t he? 

“Spit it out Cas.” exclaimed Dean.

“It’s dyewara.”

Oh? 

Oh!

“Didn’t your mother - Did the empress ever say anything about us?”

“The only thing she told me, repeatedly told me, about the dyewaras, are that they are arrogant creatures drunk on power, yet completely incapable of bringing any sort change, would in fact have no problems burning everything to the ground instead of actually changing or admitting are extremely flawed creations, they were only good for drowning in the vast pools of their vanity, and the whole of existence would be better if their entire species was ruthlessly butchered.”

“Oh” said Castiel, who pulled up a chair and sat down.

“I think you hurt his feeling.” said Dean. 

“It’s not a completely inaccurate description though.” said Sam

“Why are you so interested in my anni?” she asked him.

“She was an incredibly powerful priestess even at a young age, blessed by the goddess Inara herself. Not to mention she came from a long line of powerful priestesses and that made Heaven particularly invested in her life. I was part of the regiment sent to observe her since the time she was a child -“

“Is that angel-speak for eliminate, Cas?” asked Sam.

The angel was clearly nervous now. “Maybe.” he whispered out the reply. 

“That definitely explains why her mother had such a high opinion about you guys.” said Dean.

“Yes, but when we realised she had no interest in harnessing her powers we stepped back. It became pretty obvious that she only had political ambitions as a human. She used her powers only once, as far we know. One day when we had managed to anger her enough, I guess, and she covered the whole capital with protective sigils and warding that prevented any manner of supernatural beings from even entering Hattusa.”

“That does explain why she was so determined that I should never leave Hattusa.” she remarked. “Do the angels know anything about what happened to her or to me?”

“Sadly no. I don’t know what transpired to either of you. Because of the warding it wasn't easy to see what was happening inside always. We still had to occasionally make checks but could only do it from the outside. It’s like, when it came to the Hittite capital, our eyes were only as good as those of a human. The empress was thorough.”

That did sound like anni.

“I do know what happened to your twin brother however. Prince Zannanza and his envoy were killed by a group of Egyptian goons just outside of Syria, hired by General Horemheb and Vizier Ay.”

Thought as much. Which Egyptian in their right mind would accept a Hittite as their Pharaoh? Why didn’t atti listen to her counsel? How could he expect peace with Egypt? Their sworn enemies. His foolish dreams of having Egypt being ruled by his half-Hittite grandchildren resulted in her twin being murdered in the desert. But none of it matters now. They are dead. She’s alive and she’d like to stay that way for a while longer. So time to deal with this new mess.

“I don’t know anything about magic or angels or demons,” she spoke out. “But I think it would be safe to assume that what happened tonight, in fact what started this whole thing, it’s all because of the Mark.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Castiel.

Sam decided to answer him and gave a concise version of how she was released from the accursed tablet and Muwatti showing the duplicate Mark tattoo on her left thigh to the angel. Sam continued on, “Somehow these two very different forms of magic reacted with each other and now these two have, I don’t know, bonded with each other, where they now share dreams.”

That’s not all.

“Actually Sammy,” said Dean, recreating her very thoughts. “That’s not all that has happened to the two of us. Turns out Demon me didn’t hurt her for a very specific reason.”

“For the love of god Dean, what now?” asked Sam helplessly.

“It’s not that bad. But still a bit bad. And also in some ways a lot bad when you think of it as whole-“ 

“By the hands of Ishtar. Just tell him Dean.” 

“I have to do everything she says.” Dean blurted out.

“What? How is that possible?”

Hasn’t everything that has happened been on the side of impossible Sam? Why aren’t you immune to disbelief already?

“I don’t know, Sammy.” All of them seem to be saying that a lot lately. Dean continued, “However, no matter what she says I end up getting a strong urge to do it and then I end up doing it.”

“You’re lying.” Apparently Sam didn’t believe them. “This is a joke. Right?”

“Yes, because this entire day has been such a joy for all us.” 

She would realise that she had said that part out loud only when she noticed all three men staring at her. Oops. Somehow it felt like all four of them had tacitly and unanimously decided to not speak, least some other unpleasant discovery gets unearthed. However Castiel decided to brave it out and said, “This is not good news.”

“You’re telling me.” said Dean. “I’m the one that turns into a mindless drone following orders.”

“Alright. I may not know what a drone is, but I resent the implication that I’m making you do things for solely my entertainment. The only time I ever actually wanted to order you to do something, is when you were still a demon and I ordered you to not hurt me.”

“Does Crowley know about this?” asked Sam. Dean replied in the negative and continued, “There was no way demon me would let that piece of information slip out. And if he had suspected anything for even a second, there’d be no way he would have simply let her go with us. Think about it. The only reason he ended up helping you in curing me was because I was too uncontrollable. He already has the First Blade and if he finds out about her,” he said while pointing at Muwatti, “and what she can make me do-“

“We will be fucked.” concluded Muwatti, Sam, Dean, and Castiel.

* * *

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

This was life, Dean thought. Finally they did a vacation right. No hunting involved whatsoever. Sam was fetching another cooler full of beer and Dean was enjoying kicking back at the waterside. Activities no where near related to hunting. Was something supernatural happening, he didn’t know, he had his sunglasses on. Just sunglasses, sun, and beers, but no hunting. He was relaxing and not thinking about hunting. And he was fine. In fact he is so fine he was going to take a nap. The nap seemed like a good idea, until he found himself staring at those same stone walls of Hattusa.“Why do I keep forgetting about this damn thing?” He asked himself, while trying to find Muwatti. 

“I would like to know that as well.” The woman seems to have developed a habit of always appearing behind him. Didn’t matter how much he looked around, she’d always pop out behind him, just to watch him squirm. But then again he was one invading her dreams. “This has become a regular occurrence for both of us. And yet you still manage to be bewildered?”

“Dreams have habit of turning weird, especially when I go for a walk in others peoples’ head.” He replied. “Are you taking a nap as well?” He teased. 

“I’m right next to you, enjoying the same sun as you. Why shouldn’t I take a small nap as well?” She quipped back at him.

The brothers couldn’t see any other option, other than bringing Muwatti with them. Couldn’t leave her alone at the Bunker and there was no way Cas could take her. Besides, considering she still had the ability to make Dean do anything using just her words, he was constantly worried some demon, somewhere will figure the whole thing out. God forbid it, what if Crowley suspected something. The first time she ever did, for lack of a better term, command him to something was the very first thing she had said in over three thousands years. Stop. Just that one word. At that point of time, neither of them even knew what she could do. It was purely on impulse. He can still see it as clear as day. Her lying on the marble floor of the museum, gasping for air, having no choice but to bear witness to the slaughter of a dozen demons by his hand, and then frantically scrambling backwards when he started walking towards her, with the First Blade in his hands, the blood of his kills still warm on his face. The only thing she could do was utter the word stop. Although she did say it in Hittite, his body understood it and it did just that. It stopped. He stopped. And rest was history.

Turning his attention back to Muwatti and his surrounding, as well as the dream Muwatti, who had just walked in. Nearly always she ended up dreaming about her past memories, her past life really.Just stories about her life, where the two of them played the part of silent invisible witnesses, watching dream Muwatti, as he had started calling her, in different stages of her life. However depending on what she was feeling they could quickly turn into nightmares. The worst ones were when she thought she was back in the tablet. They could do nothing but helplessly watch the other version of her angrily screaming for help, or desperately crying her eyes out, or just sitting there, completely stoic and still. Muwatti had mentioned she felt every moment of every day she was in that tablet. Just those few seconds in that world was unbearable for Dean. How did she not go crazy? And it was a goddamn world, an entire fucking goddamn world, where she was the only occupant. A dark and cold world, where the ground was made of a black coloured stone, smooth to touch. The sky was a dark blue, with just one moon. Only it wasn’t a moon, rather the opening through which she could hear everything happening, that acted as the only source of distant light. But no stars.

One thing they had been unable see, was the last day. Her last day. Every time that particular memory would start, they wouldn’t even be a minute in, when everything around them would turn black and they would end up in some other memory of her. Usually of her mother or of her twin. Her mind was suppressing that entire episode. Not so surprising really. Whoever did whatever to her at that time, resulted in the worst fucking thing happening to her, and would have continued on, but thanks to him being clumsy and careless, she was finally out. Just pure accident. All of it was just pure unadulterated luck and accident. Even the part of the Mark and her absolute command over him. 

“So what is it today?” He asked her.

Muwatti turned towards her doppelgänger and said to Dean, “Today, a bath.” Pointing towards the giant empty marble bath.

That’s new. That’s really tame compared to other things we’ve had to see. It was kinda disappointing. His face must have said as much, “Sorry to disappoint you Dean, but it was a good bath and I miss it. And today is a bit special.” Just then three of her handmaidens came in, carrying giant baskets full of flower petals and started to empty them out in the bath. The fragrance was potent enough that he could smell them even through the dreams. “Those are dried hibiscus flowers from what you know as India that was brought in last night by one of merchant guilds.”

Dean asked her what made this bath special. “It is special for several reasons. Well if I think about it, just three. I have personally invested my own wealth in all the top tier merchant and commercial guilds in the capital, every time they have a successful venture, I make quite a substantial profit.” Just then a bigass roll of what looked like parchment fell out of one of the baskets. “And that’s second reason. One of the conditions for my investment is that their tradesmen will meet up and collect any messages from my spies throughout their travels. I also have other and quicker ways of contacting my spy network but another one doesn’t hurt, does it?”

The dream Muwatti had only glanced at the pages and handed them over to one of her handmaids, to read them later and ordered all three of them to fill up the bath with water. They were all obviously speaking Hittite, but because of dream logic Dean could understand everything that people around him were saying during these dreams. He asked Muwatti what was the third reason and she said, “I like the way they smell obviously.” At the back of his mind he remembered, he could smell the same hibiscus fragrance when he first saw her.

Then the background changed. To that memory. The last day. Her last day. It began as usual, as it always did. Dream Muwatti has walked into her bedchambers in the palace, drinks some water and starts heading towards the bed to rest. And that is when the dream, or rather nightmare, ends. Everyday she wakes up even before the sun is up, conducts morning prayers. Then she’d head up to the upper city, to check on the barracks, the granaries and finally enter the palace to hear the petitions with the nobles. It would be well into the afternoon when she’d be able to get some rest. Dean has her entire routine for that day memorised, has gone through every detail with her, both awake and dreaming, and grilled her if anything was different that day. Anything at all. The key to understanding what has happened to both of them was to know exactly how she ended up in the tablet world. Maybe today would be the day. 

Except Muwatti has already started hyperventilating. 

“Hey, hey, sweetheart. Look at me.” In a flash he was right in front of her, holding her face in his hands. “You have to concentrate. You have to work with me here.”

“Dean, I can’t control it.” God she was freezing. How does one get cold in a dream? But they have to hurry up, dream Muwatti had almost reached the bed.

“Yes, you can. You want to know what the hell happened to you all those years ago don’t you? Who was the fucker that locked you inside that tablet, right?” She could only nod to his questions. He could feel her heartbeat, simply by touching her face. Her heartbeat was so fast that he was worried it would die out. But if you die in a dream you just wake up right? “Good, so you gonna have to try really hard to make sure the dream doesn’t change. Can you do that priestess?”

“High priestess, actually.”

This was point when the dream used to change, right when dream Muwatti begins to sit down on the bed. Except it didn’t this time. Dream Muwatti was now laying on the bed with her eyes closed and the dream still hadn’t changed. Oh god, she did it. She actually did it.“It didn’t change?” Clearly she was amazed as well. “Did you plan that part?” She asked him, with a smile on he face.

“Maybe” he said, but not without giving her a wink. “You doing okay? Your heart was running faster than a bullet train for a while there.” Which only ended up confusing her and her asking what was a bullet train.

“One of the many things Sam is going to have to teach you, besides teaching you how to read. Now let’s hope we can actually see how it plays out. Then we’ll have some idea on how to proceed.” He turned away from her to face the bed. “So dream Muwatti, what happens next?” But it would be the real Muwatti who’d answer him. “An eclipse.”

“What?”

“I just remembered.” She had turned away form the bed and was facing towards the wall, which had six eight feet tall arched windows. “There’s going to be a solar eclipse. Everything turns dark. Completely dark.”

“Okay. Good. That’s good. Excellent actually.” This was the furthest they had been in to that day, and the most information they’ve managed to collect. Obviously he was excited at the prospect of actually getting some fucking answers, so sue him. “What else? Can you remember what else happened?”

“A bit.” She started frantically looking around the room. Looking at herself sleeping on the bed, the door to her chambers, towards Dean, towards the windows, Dean again, a different wall this time, herself again, and finally settling on Dean. “There’s going to be a noise. It would be loud enough to wake me up. I’d wake up thinking it must on the other side of the main door, in the hallway. But it wasn’t. It came from inside.” She grabbed Dean’s hand closest to her with both her hands and fearfully whispered to him, “Dean, there was someone already in here, when I came in.” 

Dean could feel her breath rapidly increasing once again. As well as his. “Ok. This is just a dream. It’s not real. They can’t hurt you. You have to remember that alright?” He has to remember that as well. “Where did the noise come from?” Maybe answering questions will help her concentrate. She pointed towards the wall opposite the giant windows. And right there, right in the middle of the wall was another door, something which had previously been hidden from their eyes.

It was just a dream. Dean knew that. Dean had just told her that, still fear found crept in, what felt like inside his bones. But fear wasn’t bad. Fear helps you fight your enemies. It makes you just a bit quicker on your feet, makes your punches hurt just bit more. Fear helps four year olds carry their baby brother safely out of fire. He was standing in between her and the door and asked her what was on the other side. “It’s supposed to the adjoining room for my handmaids.”

“You think one of them is in there?”

“No. Whoever is there, it’s not them. They know that I prefer to be alone if I’m sleeping in the afternoon. It can’t be them. It just can’t be. They know I’m not to be disturbed.”

“Okay.” He was running on pure instincts and adrenalin now, he had already squared off his shoulders and was already bouncing back and forth on his feet.

Then he heard the bang from front. And he also heard Muwatti’s scream from behind. Then the dream changed.

They were now in some courtyard, standing next to a fountain.

So close.

So fucking close.

Muwatti was still standing behind him. He could hear her muttering no, over and over again and could feel that she had fallen on her knees, out of pure despair and misery. He knew that feeling alright. She was still muttering to herself, but was hard to make anything out as she was hiding her face behind her hands and knees now. He decided to sit crosslegged beside her and said, “It’s alright. We’ll try again next time.”

“We were so close.” She mumbled form behind her knees.

“Yeah we were. But think of all the new bits of information we have now. We know that there was going to be an eclipse. More importantly we know that there was someone already there in theroom with you.” Now they have to try to make it past the bang.

“I knew there was going to a noise. I just told you about it. And I still got scared. Like a child, Dean.” She finally raised her head to look at him, and he saw that she was on the verge on tears. “And now I’m going to have to go through that horrible afternoon, all over again, and again and again, until I end up in that fucking tablet all over again. And why am I crying?”

As had become the case after that dream, her anni showed up. The first time she ever showed up, he didn’t even have to be told who she was. The resemblance between her and her mother was striking. Both had the same dark hair and dark eyes. However it was the smile that gave it away. 

“Why is my flower crying?” the empress asked her daughter. At least the dream Muwatti, who was five or six years old in this dream. Apparently adult Muwatti and child Muwatti cried the same way. Sitting on the ground, trying to hide their faces behind their hand and knees. “Come here.” Henti gently picked up the little girl and headed towards the fountain and sat on the edge of it. Right next to the adult Muwatti. 

“You were a cute kid.” He pointed out. She scoffed and stood up to sit next to her mother, and him next to Muwatti. “Shut up, Dean.” He remarked to her that she didn’t mean it, cause if she did then he wouldn’t be able to say a single word. “Don’t tempt me, Winchester.” was her only reply to him.

“I’ve lost Zannanza. I woke up and he wasn’t there with me.” cried out the dream child Muwatti. “I’ve looked everywhere. But I lost him.” This made Henti chuckle a bit and replied to her child, “Oh my poor flower. You didn’t lose your brother. Your brother is with your father. Today he began his military training, so he had he get earlier than usual and leave for the barracks. 

This seems to have calmed down the little girl, since she knew that her twin hadn’t gone missing. Yet. “Atti is teaching him how to fight?”

“No, my sweet. Soldiers learn how to fight. Your brothers are princes, they are being taught how to vanquish kingdoms.” Isn’t that a bit too heavy for a child? But then again looking at his childhood, what right did he have to judge. Then child Muwatti asked what are princesses taught. “That is an interesting question.” Henti remarked. “I’m not sure what do other princesses are taught, but you are my daughter. My only daughter.” She began tickling the child, making her giggle and couldn’t help but laugh herself, before continuing, “And I will teach you how to conquer the world.”

“It’s time to wake up Dean” was the only thing he heard Muwatti say, before darkness started surrounding them. But right in that moment, before the fountain and the courtyard and Henti and herlittle daughter disappeared, he could smell hibiscus again. He could swore it was coming from Henti. 

When he woke up right back at the waterfront, he could see Sam on his way back carrying the cooler.

* * *

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please look at end notes for warnings.

“Maybe I'm not ready to hunt. But I am just trying to do the right thing, man, 'cause I'm so sick and tired of doing the wrong one.”

Sam could feel the pain his brother’s voice, but was helpless to do anything to alleviate it. His mind was constantly being bombarded with questions. Most of them along the lines of how much was it just Dean being angry and how much was it the Mark? Will Dean eventually end up becoming another Cain, a soulless immortal murderer with no remorse? However the most important question of them all, what will he do then? He didn’t want to answer any of them, even if he could begin to. However he gets pulled out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. When Dean saw his brother grabbing it he asked who was messaging him so late at night.

“It’s an email.” He didn’t add much after that, but continued to read. He had been waiting for this particular email for sometime but to be honest had forgotten about it what with the killer werewolves and all. “You won’t believe what happened?” 

“Now what?” asked Dean in a tired voice.

“I thought I could find more about Muwatti’s tablet. Not sure if you remember but it was part of this Forgotten Empires exhibition at the Met, where they were showcasing Hittite art.” Sam couldn’t control his excitement. “I contacted the museum pretending to a Fed just to see what they can tell me and they just replied.”

“And they’re just admitting they’re losing items now?”

“Dude, it’s unbelievable how much of a shit show that has turned out to be. The entire exhibition was on loan from the Turkey’s Committee on Conservation of Cultural Assets and now the Turkish government are personally insulted about the fact they just lost the tablet that had made deciphering the ancient language possible. Anyway the night you freed Muwatti, their cameras didn’t record anything that happened.”

Dean let out scoff, “I think Crowley definitely had something to do with that. He cleaned up the bodies of the demons I killed. For the best, I suppose. The museum geeks would have lost their minds watching not only a bunch of people getting slaughtered but also the whole thing of an ancient princess appearing from a flash of bright light.”

That certainly would have been difficult to explain to the Turkish cultural attache. “Now get this, last night there was another break-in at the museum and they specifically targeted the same Hittite exhibition. But they didn’t take anything. They just killed a bunch of guards, looked around at the artefacts and then simply left.”

They had finally reached the motel, where they had left Muwatti before going off on the hunt. Dean pulled up in front their room and shut down the engine. He turned towards Sam and said, “That’s definitely weird, but why are you so excited about a failed museum heist?” 

“Cause whoever went in this time, didn’t disable he cameras.That’s what the museum just emailed me. Although the footage was heavily corrupted.”

“Corrupted. As in…..”

“As in demons.”

* * *

“No, Sam. For the last time we are not calling Crowley.” said Dean while he grabbed another beer before sitting down at the tiny kitchen table, joining Sam and Muwatti. He knew that Dean wouldn’t agree with his suggestion of involving the King of Hell, but what choice did they have. One way or another he will get involved somehow, either when the brothers cave in and called him or when Crowley showed up offering them a deal, and in both scenarios he is going to be just as smug and punchable as ever. So why don’t they just skip right to the part where they could have the answers to their questions.

“You don’t think the demons from last night were sent by Crowley?” asked Muwatti. Since the brothers had entered the tiny motel room and told her about what happened at the museum, she had been incredibly quiet, especially after watching the grainy footage of demons prowling around the Met, their scaled-downminuscule black eyes staring at them tauntingly. Sam had to admit besides teaching her to read, their interactions were limited to him asking her if she was hungry or tired. He still hadn’t figured her out. Not that there was a lack of information. Quite the opposite really. There were historical tomes written about her. Both on her life and on the theories behind her disappearance. She certainly was smart, she had to be, considering the fact that she was the co-ruler of an entire empire. Along with English she could speak fluent Turkish, German and French and could read and write almost half a dozen other dead languages. From what he had read up on her, she was the Chief Priestess or Tawananna for three emperors, her father and then two of her brothers. She has been exalted as excellent diplomat and stateswoman, and there’s an entire school of historians that consider her to be an undiagnosed sociopath. Everyone agrees she was an effective and ruthless ruler of a warring state, just like her mother was before her. And then one day she simply disappeared just like her as well. The lost empress and the lost princess, historically poetic sure, but just tragedy following tragedy in reality.

But now, in the twenty first century A.D. she was also clueless and naive, to a fault, to the brand new world around her. And he was sure also absolutely scared shitless. From what Dean had told him, he couldn’t imagine living in that tablet world for all those years. Cut off from the life she once had and only being able to hear the world around her melt away and disappear. All the while she was still caged in a world of dark nothingness that forced her to be only a mute spectator. And even when she did get out, she found that her entire life was simply reduced to objects that could be dug up, studied in a sterile environment and then preserved behind glass. That and her last day were the only things he ever shared with him, saying that the rest wasn’t his to share. If and when they find everything there was to know about her curse and how it relates to the Mark on his brother’s hand, nothing would change for her. There was no home for her to go back to, because her home is an archaeological site in Turkey now. Dean had taught her how to Google, and according to the search history on their laptops she only seemed to search about Hattusa and the Hittite empire. How did it fall? When was it abandoned? Where did the Hittite people go afterwards? She had so many questions about her lost life. He was without Dean for six weeks and he rapidly lost control over his sanity, whereas she lost her entire world and way of life. Sometimes he couldn’t help himself but stare at her and wonder how had she not gone insane? How was she not undergoing existential crisis every waking hour?

It was painfully obvious that unlike him, Dean had no problem talking to her, interacting with her, enthusiastically telling her about about his favourite music and food and movies. The important stuff, as Dean calls it. She had even started addressing the Impala as a ‘she’ and calling it ‘Baby’. Pretty soon she is going to start singing Led Zeppelin songs from memory too, if his brother had anything to do with it. 

Maybe it was the dream jumping or dream sharing or whatever it could be called, that enabled the two of them to open up to each other. It wasn’t just about trust, it was like they really understood one another. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that Dean was willing to treat her as a person with real feelings and not just a case that they had to cross off their list. He knew, the rational part of him absolutely knew, that she didn’t get herself cursed and then suffered absolute complete misery for over three thousands years, just so she could be part of the Winchester brand of disfunctionality. But there was always fucking something. The other shoe always dropped when it came to them. Someone or something wanted her cursed, alive but cursed, in fact living through all of that was the curse, but did that someone or something even know or could’ve even guessed what would happen between the clay tablet and the Mark? If it had been Cain and not necessarily Dean, who broke the tablet, would the same thing have occurred? Could it easily have been Cain that would have fed her his home cooked meals and not Dean trying to convince her that his cheeseburgers were the pinnacle of culinary art so she shouldn’t even bother trying other cuisine?

He had been so engrossed in his mental tirade that he forgot that Muwatti had asked him a question. He cleared his throat and said, “No, I don’t think Crowley sent those demons last night. He’s not one to leave a mess. And why would he do something like that? You were with him for weeks and only yesterday he wanted more answers.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.” said Dean, “Back when I was still, you know, a demon and travelling with Crowley, he kept calling her princess. I didn’t think of it much then, since I thought he was being his regular condescending self assigning nicknames to everyone around him. But now that we know that you really are one,” he said while pointing towards Muwatti, “and the thing about angels being interested in your mother and not having a single clue how both of you could simply disappear, Crowley definitely knows a lot more.”

“Which we why it would be better if we just call and ask him directly. Look, you’re not any closer to figuring out anything about the curse through the dreams yet. Right now getting as much as information we can, is what will put us on the right track.” After being hounded by so many questions these past few days, if there was even a slim chance of getting answer to any of them, Sam was going to pursue it. He needed this. Dean must have sensed that as well, because he reluctantly agreed and told Sam to call Crowley. After saying a quick thanks, he got up to grab his phone from his bag, which was near the beds. They had flung their bags aside when they came into the room. He dialled the number and waited, but could still hear Dean and Muwatti talking. 

“You said Crowley assigns nicknames to everyone. What are yours?” She asked his brother. He awkwardly scratched his nose and let out a nervous chuckle, before replying to her, “It’s based on this cartoon, those shows for children on TV. Sam is moose and I am squirrel.” Why aren’t you picking up Crowley? Is he still butthurt about how they parted ways last time? She must not have had any idea what those animals looked like because Dean was soon showing her pictures of them on the laptop. “Actually the squirrel thing makes sense.” With shock clearly in his voice, Dean asked her what did she mean. “I have seen you eat, Dean. You clearly look like this creature with an overstuffed mouth.”

* * *

The brothers had finally agreed to call Crowley, who took very little convincing to come over. Things had a habit of accelerating with the Winchesters, didn’t they? Or maybe the correct term would be spiralling down. However one thing was certain, change was inevitable for them. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. Sometimes fast and sometimes slow. But change always happened. Unlike her little world in the clay tablet. Nothing ever changed there. Not even her. She wasn’t just cut off from the world but also she was robbed of any change. She couldn’t even feel anything. She didn’t hunger. She didn’t thirst. She didn’t feel pain. She tried to feel pain, like the time she clawed out the flesh on wrists just to end her life. She must been scratched at her skin for hours with just her nails, until the tendons were broken and she could feel bone. She had paused for just one moment, she had blinked only once maybe twice and then she had healed. No, she went back to how she was when she first entered the tablet. Because change wasn’t allowed. Her flesh had healed and the pool of her own blood that she had been sitting in was gone. She could’ve made a second attempt, but she didn’t. Dying is a form of change and that could never be possible there. There wasn’t much to do in that tablet. Maybe just keep walking. She might have walked for years, just to see if there was an end. There wasn’t. The terrain didn’t change.

Now everything had changed. Drastically. Going from absolute stillness to pure chaos in a flash. She still didn’t know how to feel about that. Could she ever feel anything? She did feel hungry. She did feel pain. She may even be able to die now. Did she want to die?

She could definitely feel now without a doubt, however the only thing she did feel now, was tired. For so long she had only felt the most painful thing there was, time and isolation. In the first few days she was out, she certainly felt other things. Relief for finally getting out. Wonder over….everything really. A bit of fear as well about the uncertainty that was now her life. But soon enough there was only exhaustion. It had reached the point where she didn’t want to get up in the morning. She was finally out, part of the real world, and all she wanted to do was sleep. At least then she could be back at Hattusa, feel that familiar red sands between her toes, be among her people, eat all of her favourite dishes, listen to all those familiar songs, basically live the only life she had lived. She didn’t just want to escape the tablet, she wanted to go back home. But her home had changed. Drastically. It was an empty, abandoned, destroyed, and ravaged ruin. And here she was, the same as ever. Even the people who knew, really knew her, as a person and not some dry history lecture, were gone. She was the only one left. Homeless. Changeless. Feeling tired. As well as still feeling the time and isolation. She spent the whole of the future or history or whatever you want to call it, locked out from it, and now that she was free, all she wanted to dream about her past.

But she couldn’t. Not really. There were questions that needed to be answered. The Winchesters tried, they really tried, however many times during her days with them, she could see the question in their eyes, after going through all that, how is this woman not completely absolutely insane? Maybe she was. However there were still so many questions. By them. By her. Did she even want the answers? She should. Right? The biggest question on mind was why. They clearly wanted to hurt her, to stop her, but why did they choose this method? Why not just kill her? Did they forget what they did? This whole thing wasn’t very well planned either, considering the tablet was already in her chambers. They came to trap her but didn’t even bother bringing anything. Why?

She could remember everything about her life, right down to the placement and texture of the bricks of the walls. However when it came to that day, her last day, her memory spectacularly fails her. Much to the frustration of both the brothers. She didn’t understand why they just can’t talk to her, instead of talking over her, or even worse talking behind her, if their intentions are truly to find more about her curse, like that keep saying it is? Is it an intimidation tactic? Was their giant physiques and mastery over a vast range of weapons not enough? Is she admitting they kind of scare her? Maybe. Yes, she can command Dean to body tackle Sam anytime she wants, but having no idea why or how she and the Mark are connected, she didn’t want test the fragile connection. Yet. And also the fact that they haven’t actually threatened her. Yet. She was locked up for no reason and released for no reason in a time that constantly leaves her disorientated, safe to say she’s a little paranoid.

But why? Why can’t she remember what happened that day? Why is she only able to grasp at tiny fragments from that day? She needed to remember. Right? Then again, why was there a part of her that was preventing her from remembering it?

Why can’t she just remember? 

Why does she need to remember?

Something about that day frightened to her very core. And not just because she ends up getting trapped in the tablet. During her life, she had to face all manners of problems and disasters. Wars. Plague. Assassinations. Her mother’s disappearance. Her twin’s disappearance. More wars. Both her father and eldest brother dying in the plague. Traitorous nobles. Taxes. Her remaining brothers threatening civil war. Living through all that was relatively easy when compared to reliving that one memory.

Throughout her life, she had always clung on to the lessons from anni. When anni disappeared, they were the only things that made life liveable and now in the twenty first century, A.D. that is, they had become even more precious.

Every Hittite child was made to fear one thing, The enemy crossing their borders and arriving at their gates and the capital falling. However anni told them, her children, for them those words weren’t just fears but a warning. The warning of somethingthat they can never allow to happen. That was the price of their position. That was their birthright. Their duty. Failure to heed the warning or choosing to walk away from it, only results in death. Death of their people. Death of the empire. And their deaths as well. The only way to prevent that, was to do exactly what she and atti had always done, survive. It doesn’t matter how hard it is. It doesn’t matter how much it hurts. It doesn’t matter how tired you may get. The only thing that matters is survival. Survival at any cost. Survival of the empire. Survival of the capital. Survival of self.

So as much as she may want to give up and as much as she only wants to dream away her chance at a second life, she can’t. Anni’s words inside her head won’t let her. Anni’s memories in her dreams won’t let her. Maybe that’s the thing she should cling to. Since the empire and the capital are long gone. And she was the only one left. Survival at any cost.

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning of suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide.


	8. Chapter 8

From the moment Crowley showed up at their motel door, Dean could feel the irritation bubbling inside of him. It wasn’t necessarily even directed at Crowley, not completely that is. Just the sight of him was enough to bring back all the memories of what he had been a few days ago, and more importantly he was reminded of all the things he had done. The really not good things. He had never been arbiter on morality, just look at his lifestyle. However he has some restraints. He always did. There is a line inside his head that he will not and cannot let himself cross. For example, not killing his baby brother. Hurting Sammy has always been a dealbreaker. However during his brief, and thank god it was brief, time as a demon, there were no lines. Some would say that such a situation would feel quite freeing, except that’s not how it was, because he didn’t feel much during that time. He didn’t feel anything really. Even the overindulgence in the alcohol and sex, didn’t make him feel anything. Which doesn’t make any sense. What was the point of doing those things, if he was not getting anything out of it? He ended up doing them, because he could. They were just whims. Just random thoughts swirling inside his head. But no, he did feel something. Only one thing. Anger. He could always feel that. And with every passing day, he wasn’t sure if the anger part was because of simply being a demon. Because the anger was still there. Buried deep inside, but always there. Just lurking beneath his skin. A constant presence. Like the Mark really. One word that comes to his mind whenever he looks at his arm these days, is it looks angry. It certainly feels that way. Like there was a leak, and the anger was slowly and steadily seeping inside of him. Now the question was how long would it be for it to completely fill him up? Even now, maybe it wasn’t irritation he was feeling, rather it was that very same anger.

They watched Crowley watch the video. And then he watched it again. And again. He was going to replay it once again, when Dean snapped and told him actually start talking. “This is certainly quite a conundrum you boys have gotten into, because those demons showing up is bad news for all of us.” He played the video one again and then paused it, on the face of one of the demons. “He is very bad news. He and the others are not even supposed to be in America.” 

“Who is he?” asked Dean and Sam together.

“A Knight of Hell.” Dean could feel his blood turn cold. After glancing at Sam and Muwatti, he could see that they were feeling the same dread as well. If Crowley saw it, then he had decided to ignore it. Or maybe he was feeling the same, since he seemed to be losing some of that classic smugness and sat down with them at the table, before continuing, “When Cain left the Knights for a chance at domesticity, the remaining Knights got split in different factions, and they decided to basically divvy up the planet among themselves. Abaddon got Americas and he and the others got the rest. The rest of the Knights hated Abaddon’s guts, and unlike her were smart enough to not go after Cain. That might be the reason he never went after the others spread across the world. Anyway, each and every one of them respected the terms of the treaty, until today. But then again now that Abaddon is truly dead, it’s all up for grabs isn’t it?” He said while pointing towards the Mark on Dean’s arm. “Is there any alcohol here?” Sam interrupted Crowley to ask what was the Knight’s name. “Zagan. And he is a deceitful bastard. Always hoped our paths would never cross. And I was serious about the alcohol, I wouldn’t even mind your cheap swill.” Sam got up to get a bottle of beer, if only to shut him up.

When Sam joined them once more, Muwatti asked, “But why would Zagan show up at the same museum where Dean freed me?” Was he looking specifically for her, was the part she had left unsaid. The brothers were thinking the same thing. If only they knew what connects the magic of the Mark and Muwatti’s curse. Another question rambling around Dean’s mind was, did the other Knights know about her ability to control him, and effectively control the First Blade? And here he had been thinking that just worrying about the demon in front of him was bad enough.

Crowley, who was visibly regretting asking for their beer, answered, “Clearly something happened between the magic of your curse and the magic of the Mark, currently on squirrel’s arms. What we have to keep in mind is that all forms of magic have a fixed set of rules, both in terms of their origins and function. Understand the rules and you can get all the answers. However the truth is that we have no idea about either magic involved here. Unfortunately to do that we’re going to need an incredibly powerful witch and I hate dealing with them, and their hot for Satan fantasies. Besides, powerful witches are kind of hard to come by these days.” 

But did they want Crowley to know anything about this?

“And also the fact that princess here has magical blood.”

“What the fuck?” exclaimed Same and Dean. At the same time Muwatti said in a calm voice “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because you are one. Or you used to be when your empire wasn’t a giant dilapidated rubble.” Both the brothers had to turn and face each other to truly make sure that they were being ignored. Yup, they were. Just like Castiel had when he first saw her. “On a serious note, the reason I know about you is that both you and your mother are a type of urban legend.” He must have forgotten that he hates their beer, because he took a sip from the bottle, and winced. “Your mother was such a powerful priestess that she was able to ward off an entire city from any demon or monsters. But especially angels. I even heard that archangels themselves came down on from Heaven to have a go at it, but failed to even make a dent and had to go back defeated. They truly were desperately searching for a way to get to your mother. “He turned to face Dean and said, “I’m surprised your little boyfriend didn’t tell you much, considering the fact he was also sent to look over both of them. She was a descendent of several generations of priestesses. And so are you. Ishtar’s favourite High Priestess, right? Didn’t she gave you a blessing?”

Nothing about this conversation was sitting well with her. “That can’t possibly be important.”

“What was it?” This time it was Sam that asked her. Quite angrily if he might add. After pausing for some time, she continued, “All Alhuesragals received a blessing by their respective goddesses when their initiation gets completed. Inara blessed my mother with the protection against wild animals. And Ishtar blessed me with being immune from the effects of any alcohol. I’m not sure how many wild animals anni avoided encountering but for me drinking water and drinking any amount of that,” she said pointing towards the beer bottles currently on the table, “would have the same effect on me.” 

“Wait a minute,”Dean had to interrupt, “How is that a blessing?”

“I did ask myself that exact question several points in my life. Once I decided to finish off every alcohol filled clay pot in the temple, just to test that.”

“Then what happened?”

“Nothing happened Dean. That was the problem. Anyway, are we really to believe that it was my magical blood is the reason behind all of this?”

“Well it may have played a part.” said Sam, “Even before you got cursed the angels were interested in you and your mother. It might even be the reason behind both of your disappearances.”

“That reminds me,” said Crowley, “It wasn’t just that the two of you had disappeared and no one could tell why or how. But more importantly neither of you showed even up anywhere, Hell or Heaven, which meant neither of you was dead. Angels actually raided Hell, in the hopes of finding your mother. Just like they did it when you disappeared. That’s why your name was so familiar to me. The only other time angels showed up in Hell and were willing to walk amongst all the demons, was when they had to bring back a certain righteous man from dead.”

Why the fuck is finding answers to their various and varied problems never a simple task?

The reason the angels were willing to go through such lengths to get Dean back all those years ago, was so that they could start the freaking Apocalypse. What were they planning to do with her and her anni? 

Sam must have been thinking the same thing. If he was reading the worry line son his face correctly. However more than just worry, Dean could sense something else on his little brother’s face. He raised that kid, and despite being a child himself, he could always tell precisely what was going on in Sam’s mind by simply looking at his face. And right now, the younger Winchester was making the face he made whenever he was about to do something extremely stupid and would thoroughly piss off Dean.

* * *

Crowley left pretty much soon after that. And just like he felt after every time he talked to him, he regretted his decision to ever do so immediately. All three of them were so preoccupied over what they had learned that they couldn’t even talk much after that. Between the whole Kate thing and now this conversation with the King of Hell, he had no idea whether to call this day a success or not. Zagan might know something about Muwatti and her magical blood, but does he know about the rest. Having nothing to add, they decided to turn in for the night. They had to leave tomorrow early in the morning. No idea where. He just wanted to leave. Even though he fully knew, that it wasn’t the place that was making him feel that way and no amount of driving will change that.

And like always, he slipped in his dreams only to find himself in the ancient Hittite city that was increasingly becoming familiar to him. But this time something was different. Because this time Muwatti didn’t appear behind him, rather she was already standing in front of him, with a shocked expression in her face. He even pointed this out to her that she never did such a thing and asked her why the change.

“That’s because we’re not alone this time.” Was her only reply. She looked past Dean and was staring at something behind him. And when he turned around he came face to face with Sam standing right in middle of Hattusa with them.

“So Sammy, accidentally ate some dream root lately?”

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Try as I might, this one night doesn't seem to end and all three of them are just doing whatever they please. This is a short chapter but seemed right to end it here. Will update soon.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam knew that it was a bad idea. It obviously was a very bad idea. If he went through with it, he’d basically be very much fucking up. But the thing is, that he did go through with it and he has fucked up. He fully acknowledges that. So can we please move on? But looking at the equally shocked faces of both Dean and Muwatti in front of him right now, he wasn’t sure they’ll be able to move on any time soon. Not until they had the chance to shout at him for substantial amount of time, that is. Though he still wishes they would at least try. Because he was here now. He really was here. Here being the ancient capital city of the Hittites. “Wow, It feels real. Like real real. I can even feel the wind.” Sam couldn’t help but be amazed. And how could he not be? He could smell everything and hear everything as well. “Is this how it all really looked?”

“Seriously?” 

Dean was angry. Sam knew that his brother being angry with him was a possibility. He knew that neither of them would be happy about his decision. It was stupid, it was rash, and it was horrible. 

“Dude I just want to know why?” Oh good, the shouting starts. “Was is just curiosity? Were you feeling left out? Was it a jealousy things? I mean, can’t say I blame you. Every night I get to be in the dreams of a beautiful woman.” He snapped his finger and excitedly said. “Even better. A real princess, Sammy. I’m literally the dream of a beautiful princess.” Dean must have noticed that how unamused Sam was as the next thing he said was, “Don’t you even start with that face. Cause, hate to break it to you little brother, you’re in no position to be judging me right now.”

“Look Dean, I know what I’ve done is wrong - “

“Then why did you do it anyway?”

“It’s obviously because he doesn’t trust me.” interjected Muwatti and startling the brothers. “Ḫannaḫanna herself would lose patience when dealing with both of you. How can the two of you manage to forget about me and ignore me while standing inside my head?” She walked past Dean till she was right in front of Sam. Some part of him acknowledged that looking away wasn’t really an option. Honestly he would have preferred if she had chosen to simply shout at him like Dean had. Because for some reason being on the receiving end of this calm rage of this petite woman, who barely reached his chin was truly an unnerving sensation for him.

Oh yeah. It was because he had very much fucked up.

Muwatti continued talking, “Well Sam, am I wrong? Isn’t the reason you decided to invade my mind without my consent, because you just can’t seem to trust me? But why? I honestly fail to understand the reason behind it. Precisely what have I done that is making you have so many doubts about me?”

He’s not sure how to answer that.

“Look, Muwatti. It’s not something that you have done. Rather it’s what could end up happening.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Now Dean had joined them as well and had positioned himself between the two, maybe anticipating that they would start attacking each other and would be forced to act as the referee. And judging by the look on Muwatti’s face, it certainly appeared that she wouldn’t mind planting a punch or two. Or a swift kick between the legs.

He finally managed to look away from her and looked towards Dean, while still making sure he was an arms length away from her. “The only way we can figure out how the two of you are connected,” Sam said while aggressively pointing at the two of them, “is by figuring out what is behind her curse.” Sam and Dean could hear Muwatti utter something about how the damn brothers just went back to ignoring her again. But he continued with his rant regardless. “However even after all this time you haven’t figured out what happened to her that day, other than some useless bits of information that have nothing to do with the curse. And now we find out that a bunch of Knights have come to America for the first time in over a century just to look for her and her magical blood apparently. Come on man, you must’ve thought about all of that as well. The type of danger we’re all in. Don’t tell me you’re not worried about what will happen that if they get their hands on her. They will also be able to gain the power to control you and the First Blade. Something which might be very useful when going to war with all the other Knights. So it’s incredibly important that we figure out everything we can, as soon as possible.”

“Oh. Is that so?” He said with a mock surprised expression on his face.“Thank you so much for pointing out all the ways we can get fucked by a bunch of demons. I’d never even thought of that. It’s not like our entire lives we’ve had to fight those sulphur breathing assholes.” said Dean. “So let me see if I got right, Sammy, you not only don’t trust her and are pretty sure that she is hiding something but you also think that I’m incapable of doing anything on my own or finding anything about this whole fuck fest. Am I close?”

He had known he was very much fucking up, but he didn’t know exactly how much he was going to be fucking up. And somehow in the middle of all of that, Dean and Muwatti had switched roles. His brother was the one who was silent and now Muwatti was vocally making it abundantly clear that she wasn’t going to be ignored by the Winchesters anymore. She let out a sharp whistle to grab their attention and started on her own rant. “You really think I’m hiding something from the two of you?” claimed Muwatti, all the while displaying that she can aggressively point at two people as well. “How can I hide anything when I don’t even fucking know anything about what exactly happened to me? I’m learning all these new things about my mother and her life, and as it turns out, also my life, the same time as you two assholes. Not that learning all of these things is doing any good, certainly not for me and my sanity. Because not a day has gone by, since leaving the tablet that I didn’t end up getting even more confused than I had ever been in my entire life. Not to mention scared out of my mind. I don’t know what is happening to me or what will happen to me. Or do you think I’m actually pleased to find out that demons as well as angels would love nothing more than to drain me for my magical blood?”

Dean tried to calm her down, by assuring her that they will find out what was happening. However it didn’t have the effect he had clearly wanted, because she quickly turned her ire towards him. Evidently no one was safe from the fury of the Bronze Age princess. “Das ist ja Kinderkacke,” who apparently like to swear in German. “Do you really think it brings me any sort of relief to know that I have to rely on two giant idiots forany sort of help?”

Sam, try as he might, couldn’t stop himself from balling up his fists and gnashing his teeth. Or even stop himself from saying the next part. He should’ve tried harder. And then even more. After all, things never do go their way whenever he loses control over his anger, isn’t that right? “I think you’re overreacting a bit here. We have been doing this for a long time. So yeah, trust us when we say that we’re your best shot at solving this.”

“Trust you. Did you really just say I should trust you?” came her indignant and infuriated reply. “Just look at where you’re fucking standing Sam and ask yourself how did you get here. Then tell meagain that I should trust you. Because if this is how you treat people who trust the Winchesters, I might as slit my wrists, summon Zagan and surrender myself to him right now.”

“That might be not such a bad idea.” Sam shouted back. 

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted him. However before he could do anything, the courtyard starting dissolving all around them, and everything was surrounded in darkness. When he could finally feel the ground under his feet once again, he could see that they were standing what looked like some type of lustrous and smooth black stone. Above them was a starless night sky. So this was the tablet world, and just like he had heard from Dean there was simply nothing around them. Except for the hypnotic stillness and the deafening silence.

“Where is she? Can you see her?” He heard Dean ask. For a moment, Sam didn’t understand what he could be talking about. Until he turned towards his brother and saw that it was just the two of them. Muwatti wasn’t with them. Both the brothers frantically started to look around, but to no avail. They couldsee miles around them in all direction, and everything looked the same, empty. They really were the only ones there. “Son of a bitch. Where could she be?” Den angrily shouted at the sky. Was it really a sky? Sam said that he had no idea, which seemed to anger Dean even more. “Is this what you fucking wanted Sam? You judge me for reading diaries of people when we’re on a case, but somehow you convinced yourself that slipping into her dreams without her permission was okay. Not only that, you thought breaking into her mind wasn’t enough, cause then you just had to antagonise her by saying stupid shit like we hope a demon gets her.”

“I didn’t mean it that way-“

“Then why the hell did you say it that way, dumbass?” 

Sam could sense Dean’s frustration, which evenly matched his own at the moment. However he didn’t have a good enough answer for his brother or to himself. This was not how he pictured things going. He lost control over his anger and now they were stuck inside the mind of a 3000 years old sociopath.

Seeing that Sam wasn’t going to be saying anything, Dean continued on, in a much more helpless tone. “Listen Sammy, I know you want answers. And even though you may not believe it, but I want to figure out this thing as well.” He could see that Sam was going to interrupt him, but he silenced him by a simple shake of his head. “What you did was not helpful at all. She is not doing well.” Of all the things he expected Dean to say, this wasn’t even on the list. Whenever these two were together, they seem to be goofing around, when did they even have time to bear their souls to each other. He asked him how could he be so sure about that. Dean rolled up his sleeve and pointed towards the Mark and said, “Because of the connection or bond or whatever the hell it actually is, sometimes I can feel what she is feeling.” He straightened up his sleeve and then ran his hands through his hair, while looking around once more to see if Muwatti would appear. She didn’t. “It was much stronger when I was demon. A lot stronger. It reached a point where I could constantly sense her, wherever she was. Hell, I could even calculate how far away she was from me at given moment. Now that I’m human again, it’s very faint but sometimes I can still get a sense of what she’s feeling. She’s drowning man, and you pulling stunts like these, is not helping anyone. Especially not her.”

“Ok, you’re right. I get that, alright. But what do we do now? I mean, she’s gonna come back, isn’t she?”

“We’re in compete uncharted territory. Your guess is as good as mine.”

That didn’t bode well with either of them. Seeing no other option they started walking. Just picked a direction and walked. Neither of them could tell how much time had passed, could’ve been hours could’ve been seconds. Eventually the background around them changed. The darkness slowly melting away and in the blink of an eye, they were now in what looked like a bedchamber. It was packed with people talking in hushed and frantic whispers. They were standing near a bed, which was separated from the rest of the room with an enclosure of some sort of cloth, maybe muslin. What the hell? Sam could barely make out the outlines of men walking around on the other side of the cloth barrier with thuribles in their hands, emitting thick plumes of smoke. Dean pointed towards the man lying in the bed and said that was probably one of her brothers. The man was probably in his early thirties and was clearly sick, his reddened face glistening with a fine layer of sweat, signs of high fever maybe? He asked his brother how could he be so sure about that. “I’ve not seen all of them. I know she had five elder brothers, including her twin. I’ve only ever seen him and Mursili. But she did mention that they all had blond hair and green eyes like their father. Boy, he does not look good, does he?.”

Just then they heard a commotion on the other side of the cloth barrier, as someone had entered the room. It was dream Muwatti. The first thing she did was order everyone to leave. The moment the whole room was cleared, she crossed the barrier, quickly went past the Winchesters, and sat down on the bed, next to the man, with her back towards him. A realisation suddenly hit Sam, “I think that’s Arnuwanda, her eldest brother. I read about it, there was a plague and he’s supposed to have died a month after their father did.” Dean pointed out his obsessive habit of trying to research everything has got to stop. “I mean, remember the time dad managed to scrape up money for Christmas gifts for both of us, and took us to an actual toy shop. I was ready to leave in five minutes, but you must've spent an hour harassing the poor shop guy over questions about ethical packaging. What ten years old does that?”

Arnuwanda woke up and the brothers could clearly see that he did indeed have green eyes, which currently were displaying shockand concern over seeing his sister sitting next to him. “You shouldn’t be here. What if you get sick as well?”

“It’s been a whole night and a whole day, and your fever still hasn’t broken.” was her only reply to his worries. “So what if I get sick too. Atti’s dead. You’re dying. Maybe I should die as well. The empire and the capital can begin anew with Mursili as the emperor and his wife as the Tawananna.”

Sam nervously voiced his concerns to Dean, if they should be watching this. To which Dean replied. “Of course fucking not. But do you see an exit somewhere? Usually when I want to leave a dream, I ask the person dreaming it to end it. Do you see Muwatti somewhere? Besides wasn’t the whole point of you coming here, was to learn about her? Well, here’s your chance. Learn away.” 

“So, Mursili will be my successor.” said Arnuwanda. “Makes sense. Telipinu is happy being a High Priest in Kizzuwadna, he’s certainly as rich an emperor should be. And Piyassli shamelessly betrayed us, when he took command of the army and then abandoned the capital. Even though he knew that doing so would leave Hattusa defenceless.” He had to pause to catch his breath. It was obvious he didn’t have much long to live. “The whole empire already knows what he did. Even our enemies have already started plotting against us. All of them can see the cracks in the royal family. Regime change is always dangerous, but that idiot has truly made us weak. He has left us with no other choice. Even he can’t reasonably think he won’t be punished once we find him and bring him back.”

“I just did that.” Muwatti twisted her upper body towards the sick emperor and showed him her hands. Which were covered with rapidly drying blood. There were even splatters of blood in front of her dress. All three men could now see that she was crying, tears silently falling down her cheeks. Arnuwanda grabbed her hands and asked her what had she done. “They brought him back. The army. Once the men realised that he doesn’t have any money and can’t pay them their stipend or even feed them, they turned against him and brought him back. As their prisoner.” She hadn’t looked up even once yet, and was only staring at her blood-covered hands, which the Winchesters could now guess could only be her brother’s. There were unshed tears in the emperor’s eyes as well. “He knew he wasn’t going to see the sun rise ever again, the moment he entered the capital. His only request was that it shouldn’t be a commoner who gets to take the life of our prince. He said it had to be either you or me. And you-“

“And I can’t even leave this bed.” With that he lost control over his tears as well.

“How old do you think she’s here?” Sam managed to ask when he found his voice.

“Don’t know. Kinda hard to say.” Dean answered. “She doesn’t even look twenty. Might still be in her teens.”

Muwatti finally looked up from her hands. “I ordered them to set up a pyre. They’re supposed to call me when it’s finished. I need to perform his last rites.” She once again stared at her hands, which were in an iron-grip by her brother. “Piyassli showed me where to stab him. But I think I messed up, because there was too much blood.” Whatever little control she had, was now completely lost. She crumbled into loud sobs and buried her face on Arnuwanda’s chest, who could only wrap his other arm around her. “Oh little flower. I’m sorry you had to be the one to do that. I’m sorry I couldn’t be a strong emperor for you or for anyone really. And we both know that I never will. But you can’t doubt yourself. It had to be done. I would’ve done the same. So would’ve anni and so would’ve atti.”

“Yes, they would’ve. They were used to doing so much worse.” She raised her head so she could look up at him. “Did you ever doubt them? That anni and atti were wrong, their ways were wrong. Especially now that they’re gone?”

“Constantly. They were really horrible parents.” Both siblings dissolved in silent laughter, if only for a moment . “If there ever were two people who should not have had any children, it was those two.Especially with each other. How did those two not kill each other every day they were married, is still a mystery to me. But even you would agree, the very reasons that made them such monsters for us, also made them the greatest rulers in the history of our empire. They were giants, my little alil, which made it painful for us to live with them, and even in death, it’s still painful to live under the giant shadows they’ve left over us. But you and Mursili will become giants as well, in your own right. Maybe, even bigger than our parents. Yes, I’m sure of that.” He wiped away her tears with his free hand, as he still hadn’t let go of hers. “Mursili is going to need you. More than you can ever think would be possible. You both may be the same age but he’s still too young.” Muwatti was about to say something, but he didn’t let her. “He is an excellent general, yes, but not a politician and with that temper of his, certainly not a diplomat. However you’re the one, who has been doing those exact things for the past four years, at our father’s side. And I wish we had more time. And I’m really sorry to ask you this, but I need you to step up another pyre. You’re going to perform the last rites for two of your brothers. And then tomorrow you have to crown Mursili our new emperor.” 

What the fuck? Both the Winchesters had to look at each other, to check if they heard him right. What does that mean?

Muwatti sat upright and yanked her hand away from him and voiced Sam’s last thoughts.

“You’ve read the same reports that I have. You know exactly what is happening. The Arzawans in the west, the Assyrians in the east, the Egyptian army from the south, that will reach our borders in no more than three days. Even the damn Kaskans tribes in the north, our own people are rebelling against us now, Muwatti.” She tried to get up, to probably distance herself from him, and probably even to leave. But she couldn’t do that as he had once again grabbed her hand. “Can’t you see? This is the only way.” 

She was still trying to free her hand, all the while shaking her head, “Then give Mursili the command over the our military.”

“Our soldiers need to see their emperor fighting beside them, to bring us victory. Our enemies need to see the warrior Hittite emperor in front of them, so that they’d cower in fear. And a bed ridden man can’t do those things. It’s true that I’m dying, but unfortunately, I’m not dying fast enough and with everything that has happened with Piyassli, everyone knows that there are cracks in our family and they all now think that we have started turning against each other. They know that we’re at our weakest and open for attack. This is their best chance to defeat us and wipe us off the map for the first time in a generation.”

“There has to be another way.” The tears and loud sobs were back again.

“I wish there was, sister, because I don’t want to die, I truly don’t. But I have to. Because that’s what anni and atti have taught us. Everything we do, it has to be for the survival of the empire, survival of the capital, and survival of self. Am I right Tawananna?” Her silence was clearly not an acceptable answer, because he repeated his question and also shook her hand for good measure.

“Yes, emperor. You’re right. Survival at any cost.”

He finally started to relax his grip on her. The moment she was free, everything around them starting melting and dissolving all over again. But not before the brothers saw Muwatti grab a pillow from under Arnuwanda and gently placing it on his face.


	10. Chapter 10

Where are you Muwatti? 

Dean asked that question to himself for what felt like the millionth time. Why isn’t she back yet? Is she even coming back? Between Sam and her, he’s not sure who is currently causing him to age prematurely.

They were currently still on the tour of worst memories of her life. Which involved a lot more dead family members, a lot more dysfunctional family members, and a whole lot more bouts of insanity caused by years of isolation. The tablet was playing a starring role in this particular tour. For incredibly obvious reasons. Although it was impossible to tell if they were seeing them in any specific order or not, it didn’t make seeing them it any easier. They got to see the moment when she finally began to make sense of the languages being spoken on the outside. Glad at first to finally understand what was being said, after slowly and painfully parroting word for word for years, when they were translating every Hittite word they could find. However her joy didn’t last for long. Eventually when she understood enough, she finally realised how long she had been locked up for. With everything around her having already turned to ruin. Being left completely helpless, unable to do anything, except listen to people all around her talk over her, who couldn’t even hear her.

“Don’t think I would have been able to handle this Sammy. All alone in a barren and empty world. Just silent and dark everywhere around me. I’m not made for this.”

However he never got to hear his younger brother’s reply, because they got startled by a voice behind them. “No one is made for this. That’s where the curse part comes in.” Working on pure instincts both of them turned around, fully prepared to attack whoever was behind them. Except at the same moment the tablet world around them transitioned into the same courtyard they had been in, when this whole nightmare began, causing them to lose their balance and fall down on their asses. Hard. They looked up and saw that, as he had suspected, it was indeed Muwatti. She finally came back, and was looking incredibly cheery over the sight of the brothers on the floor. 

He heard Sam shout at her that she did that on purpose. And he immediately wanted to smack him. Does he want her to disappear again? Thankfully she didn’t. Instead she decided to join them on the floor and now all three of them were sitting on the ground. “You know what Sam, unless you have proof of my intent, you have to stop making baseless accusations about me.” However Sam wasn’t having it, since he continued shouting at her, asking her where she had gone.

“Nowhere. I was here the whole time. I needed peace and quiet to be able to think, but the voices in my head,” she said while pointing towards the two of them. “were being too loud. So I wished that you’d go away. Just for while.” She sheepishly added quickly. “I honestly didn’t think it would work. Dreams are strange, aren’t they?” 

“Seriously.” Now even Dean felt like shouting at her but resisted the urge. “That’s your reason for sending us to the tablet world and making us see all of that?” Although he did want to continue voicing his frustrations to her, he stopped when he saw that she was clearly confused by this. “You were in the tablet world? And what do mean ‘making you see’? What did you see?” She asked them.

Dean turned towards his brother and silently asked him if wanted to elaborate on her question. After receiving a silent hell no as his reply, he asked Muwatti about what did she need to think about without them. And at the same time Sam asked her what this place was, all those years ago. She looked from one brother to another, and they knew that she knew that they were hiding something, but decided to move on regardless and answered their questions.

“This is the temple complex of Ishtar. And these,” she pointed towards thebuilding behind her, “are my personal chambers and garden. I would spend hours sitting in this exact spot, whenever I needed to think about anything and everything. Or just wanted to be alone.” She looked around, before speaking again, “When anni first brought me here to become the High Priestess, I hated this place and hated having to live here. But now…..” She let out a heavy sigh. “After sending you away, I thought to myself, why would the Mark free me? The way both of you, and even the way Crowley and Castiel have talked about it, it’s as if the Mark is an entity on its own. And the only things it seems to be interested in, are killing and self-preservation. So what does it gain by saving me and releasing me from the tablet? I’d argue that my presence is actually harmful to it, since somehow I ended up having some power over you and indirectly over it. Right? I’m right, aren’t I?”

“What is this?” Sam asked her, with a perplexed look on his face. 

“Oh, I understand why you’re confused.” She replied. “Whenever I want to know something from someone or anything about them, I use this tactic, called asking questions and then getting that information in form of answers from them. Instead of breaking into their minds without their permission by using magic that involves eating my hair.” 

Ouch. She certainly knows to hit where it hurts, now doesn’t she?But it was true, and also funny. Dean could barely contain his laughter over the look on his brother’s face. “Fine, guess I deserved that.” Sam said with a defeated look on his face and Muwatti nodded in agreement. “And yes, you are right. It’s not enough that we find out about your curse but also find out what happened that night at the museum between the two of you. Cause whatever happened, goes beyond just setting you free, what with you being able to command Dean and Dean being able to feel what you feel-“

“What? You can feel what I feel? Really? Since when?” She asked Dean, who could only sputter something along the lines of ending the dream and waking up right about now would be a swell idea. But judging by the glares she was giving him, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. 

Sam didn’t seem interested in their little interaction, as he hadn’t even stopped to take a breath, after throwing his big brother under the bus. “It’s like you said, all of this just seems to go against the Mark’s basic programming, which is, as said by your brother Arnuwanda on his deathbed, survival at any cost.”His voice fading out at the last part, when he realised that he had let the cat out of the bag.

But she freaking heard it alright. Son of a bitch.

The force and speed at which she turned her head from him to Sam, Dean was amazed she didn’t get whiplash. Yeah, she definitely wasn’t going to wake up any time soon now, as she was going to have too much fun watching them squirm. “So, when I sent both of you away, you decided to go rummaging inside my head, to see one of the worst memories of my life.” She turned back towards Dean, “Of course he would do it. I expect nothing less from him. This whole experience has taught me that he most definitely would do it,” she said while pointing at Sam, “But, Dean, I don’t know whether to be amazed, worried or strangely proud that you went along with Sam, when there are so many memories of orgies, all over the place that you could’ve walked into.”

Three thousand year Bronze Age princess says what. 

For a minute there, he hasn’t sure if his ears were working. Or even if his brain was able to process any information being relayed to it.

But no. His ears and brains were working just fine, as he could see that Sam was also trying to process this new bit of information from her, with some difficulty and discomfort. And she was most definitely talking about exactly what he had heard her talk about.Because she was still talking about it. “Once every fortnight the priestesses and I would gather at this very temple to worship the goddess through our bodies. Along with war, strategy and justice, Ishtar was the goddess of love, sensual pleasure and desire after all, and sex was our way of praying to her and appealing to her.” This woman was going to kill him. She’s definitely trying to kill him. And Sam as well, considering his brother was opening and shutting his mouth like a fish in water. “Just imagine Dean, me and a dozen nubile priestesses losing control over ourselves in a haze of orgasmic bliss, our intertwined limbs glistening with a fine layer of sweat caused by our vigorous efforts, and our cries of absolute pleasure echoing in the winds.” Yup, he’s dead now. His soul has left his body. “Too bad you’re never going to see any of that. And it’s all Sam’s fault.”

“You’re so annoying.” He heard Sam say to her. At least he think it was Sam, cause his ears were still buzzing.

“I have naturally better hair than you. Without even doing anything to it.” She retorted back, while flipping her waist long hair. 

“At least I vaccinated as a child.” 

The whole hair thing might have really struck a nerve. Literally. He has had this little twitchy nerve right above his left eye that always, well, twitches, whenever he gets irritated. And he presses his lips together in frustration, till they almost disappear. Which he was also doing. He could see why, her hair really was shinier and thicker than his. Was it because of the cleaner water back then? Though he can’t imagine why he was that irritated, since a Sammy without nice flowy long hair, would basically be a taller Dean.

“I don’t know what that is, but is that reason why you’re such a gassy man, Samuel?”

“Enough.” Dean shouted at both of them, effectively silencing them. “Do the two of you enjoy giving me a headache? I mean come one, act your goddamn age. Both of you.”

“It’s brilliant how quickly you can go from being an absolute child to mothering everyone around you.” Was her only reply, which even made Sam giggle a little. 

He’s surrounded by fucking idiots. 

After they had all calmed down, at least Sam had the decency of looking ashamed. But not Muwatti, who was enjoying all of this way too much. Though in all honesty, unlike Sam and him, the power balance between Muwatti and him, wasn’t really equal. In fact, it was terribly unbalanced in her favour. Because the simple truth was that he doesn’t intimidate her. He may annoy her but she literally holds power over him to make him do whatever she wants. He’s not winning anything against her. Though except for the duration he was a demon, she hadn’t really made him do anything. 

He attempted to bring the conversation back to the actual relevant things, “There’s another thing about your last day. Can’t believe I didn’t realise this before.” He pointed at her and said, “You were most probably cursed by a human.” She asked how could he be so sure about that. But Sam understood what he was trying to say and both brothers exclaimed at the same time, “The warding.”

“How do the two of you do that? I had five brothers, none of them behaved this way. Ever”

But he and his little brother were on a roll again, with Sam first saying, “No angel or demon could enter Hattusa. It could only be a human who could’ve done the spell to lock her up in that tablet.”

“Can all twenty first century men read their siblings’ minds now? Or is this more of a weird Winchester thing?”

“We know that angels and demons were interested in her, but why would a human want to lock her up?”

“Then you should read my Wikipedia page. Fratricide, ordering mass murders, planning assassinations, war in general. Not to mention, I had so many slaves.”

“You had slaves?” Asked the Winchesters.

He had to keep reminding himself that just because she was princess, his first thought shouldn’t be Disney. 

“Of course that’s the part you two weird assholes don’t bloody ignore.” She muttered with frustration. “Yes Dean, I had slaves because the slave mode of production was an integral part of any agrarian based Bronze Age economy. And because I owned human beings as chattel and did a bunch of other horrendous stuff, I have now ended up in the underworld and being stuck with you and your brother is my punishment.” She let out a long breath. “I am not a good person. Never have been. Safe to say the list of people who would’ve wanted to curse me both within the empire and without, may just be too long.”

“The only way we’ll know anything for sure about what happened that day is whenever you remember.” said Sam. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything? I mean your whole life and all of your memories are right here in your head, clearly whatever you’re missing has to be here.” 

He could feel the apprehension in his brother’s voice, and he understood that. Because he, too was worried she would send them away once again. But she didn’t. Thank god. He did not want to visit the memory of her and her father shouting at each and fighting, over whether or not to send her twin to Egypt, all over again.

“I do want to remember.” Though she didn’t look all that confident and quickly added. “At least I’m pretty sure that I do. How can I even know if I want to remember something, when I have no idea what that something is? I wouldn’t even know where to start. I don’t have any control over what I see in here with Dean. I just slip in and out of the different memories. The only amount of control I’ve had is in waking up. How would I even be able to navigate through……all of the stuff? Do I just think really hard?” She closed her eyes for a moment with a look of concentration on her face. Dean was preparing himself to be thrown into another memory. But nothing happened. They were still in the temple’s courtyard. Without opening her eyes, she asked them if something had happened. He replied in negative and she opened her eyes. At least maybe now she will wake up and they all could leave. Please. He just wants to leave.

Except Sam pointed at something behind Muwatti and said, “Does that count?” Both Dean and Muwatti looked towards where he was pointing and saw her younger self sitting there, with a blank look on her face.

“How could it? I remember myself when I was,” she took a closer look at her doppelgänger. “fourteen maybe fifteen. Must be after anni disappeared, as those are the ceremonial robes of the Tawananna.” She gave her younger self another hard look, “No. Definitely fourteen. Though I can’t remember why she is in such a despondent mood. I mean, she has still all the advantages and benefits of an absolute monarchy at her fingertips. Lives in a lap of complete luxury. Still has her family and all of that gold. So maybe the stupid little slut should be sad when she actually loses everything, now shouldn’t she?”

Wow. Where did that come from, he found himself thinking aloud.

“I’m not sure. It felt it came from somewhere deep. But it’s fine. I’m ignoring it.”

Yeah. Cause that’s the healthy thing to do. Can’t believe she is actually making him say these things. But to be fair she does seem to be repressing just as much as him. You know, with the Mark and the overall general mess that is their life. But it’s fine. He’s ignoring it.

The younger Muwatti was now joined by her twin, who offered her a flagon, a gesture to which she replied, “I hope you’re offering that to me, so that I could bash it on your head, Zannanza. Alcohol does nothing for me, or did you forget, you idiot?”

“No, alil, I didn’t forget about your stupid and useless blessing. However I was hoping that at least today Ishtar would allow you to get a drink. How are you doing alhuesra?”

Dream Muwatti replied with a chuckle, “Alhuesragal actually. And absolutely horrid. But it’s fine. I’m ignoring it.”

“We were raised by the same emotionally repressed people, but even I know that’s not healthy.” said her twin.

Dean couldn’t help but chuckle and their Muwatti asked him what was so funny. “It’s funny because the level of emotional maturity you had at fourteen, has remained unchanged even at…… Hold on, how old are you?”

“Twenty-eight.” She replied. “No. Wait. I was born in 1340 B.C. if we are to believe the dating system by Dr. Trevor Bryce, which means I am now 3354 years old,” she quickly calculated on her fingertips, “and that means I was in the tablet for 3326 years in total.”

Wow, again. They all knew it would be around that number, they have been saying it enough. But to get the exact number of years, to be able to calculate it, was another matter. She was once again lost in thought. Sam, too, was silent. In fact it appeared he was listening to the twins, who were now talking about her first royal ceremony, as the Tawananna. 

Her twin continued talking, “And stop saying ‘it’s fine’, because I know you’re not fine. You and Zuwa have been in love with each other since you were children, and now you have to go out there and solemnise his marriage with our half-sister.”

Dean and Sam then got to witness how differently both the Muwattis’ reacted to that. The older one was clearly in a state of shock and had now turn around completely to face the teenagers. While the younger one let out a snort of frustration, saying, “Well, of course I’d love nothing more than to go out there and marry him myself. But you seem to be forgetting that the evening my betrothal to Zuwa was to be made official, our esteemed anni dragged me to this very temple and made me the High Priestess. And I have no choice but to give both, Zuwa and Supilka, my blessing for a long and prosperous marriage, because six months ago, you and the other four blond bastards made me the Tawananna. Why? Because our seventeen years old stepmother scares all of you.” Zannanza looked like he was going to say something, but she interrupted him, “This isn’t me blaming you, any of you. I mean, after anni’s disappearance, what choice did I have. But this marriage has to happen. We need Zuwa’s father as an ally and his only condition is a royal marriage. Yes, they wanted me first, and even I would’ve wanted it to be me, but that’s pretty much impossible now, isn’t it? And atti doesn’t care which one of his daughters actually gets married off, as long as his gets an alliance with the most powerful aristocratic and military family in the empire.”

“Aren’t both of you tempted?” He asked her sister. “To run away? Leave Hattusa behind.”

“Of course we are. But Zuwa can’t turn his back on his own family anymore than I can on all of you. Besides, you’re telling me if atti ever told you to do something, you wouldn’t do it, even if it would only harm you in the end?”

“Of course I would. He’s my emperor.”

“And anni was my Tawananna. I’m only doing what she expected of me.”

And what would turn out to be the second last time for the night, everything around them started melting all over again. The courtyard disappeared and all three of them were now sitting in her chambers in the palace. The memory of her last day. As always, dream Muwatti entered the room and was now resting on the bed. Their Muwatti, who was still had her back towards them and was facing the giant windows, stood up, as did they, and said, “Congratulations Sam. You got your wish. I remembered what I’d forgotten.” She finally turned around and walked ahead of them, closer to the centre of the room, “No. I never really forgot. Rather I always knew what was missing, I just didn’t want to remember.”

They had reached the point in the memory, when all of them could hear the loud bang behind the other door. The Winchesters turned around, towards the source of the noise. Dean half expected everything to start dissolving around them, like always. But it didn’t. The memory continued on. The noise had woken up dream Muwatti and she decided to investigate it, by walking towards the door. However just as she was about to reach it, the door opened and a man stepped out. His was taller than Muwatti and had dark hair and dark eyes, and looked way too pleased with himself. 

“General Zuwa, were you trying to frighten me?” The other Muwatti said. “If you were any other man, I would’ve had no choice but to have you punished for such impertinence.” She tried to look angry but the smile on her face said otherwise. The mansimply laughed and said, “Good thing I’m not any other man, princess.” He picked her up, and then threw both of them on the bed. Muwatti, through her giggles attempted to admonish him for coming to her chambers and what if someone had seen him. “I think it’s safe to say that we are beyond such worries. We are the worst kept secret of the capital, my love. No one, not even your brother or my wife, actually believes that the reason behind my nightly visits to the temple is because I just have to venerate the goddess.” The couple on the bed then proceeded to passionately kiss each other, while the rest of them could only stand there and stare at them.

“What’s with those faces?” Muwatti asked the brothers, when she turned around towards them. “We’ve already established that I’m not a good person. The fact that I was sleeping with my half-sister’s husband shouldn’t be that much of a shock, to either of you.”

Dean saw that his brother was, indeed, just as shocked as him, with the turns of events. What the hell just happened and wasn’t the person who was going to lock her up in the tablet supposed to be inside the other room, he heard him ask. To which Dean could only say, “I don’t know about that, but he’s certainly doing something to her.”Zuwa had by now slid his hand underneath her dress and by the way she was whimpering, he had a pretty good idea what was happening. So could Sam, since he immediately looked away from the bed, which greatly amused him and Muwatti. She cheekily asked him why was he turning away, when in fact the whole reason he was here, was so that he could see what happened to her on that day.

“This was obviously not what I had intended.” His brother spluttered out, with the other Muwatti’s moans still in the background. “Do you really want us to see you like this?” He turned towards Dean, who hadn’t turned away, “Will you please stop staring. Why the fuck are you smirking so much anyways?” But that only ended up making him smirk even more.

“Being naked in front of other people has never been a problem for me. Besides I’ve had sex with Zuwa, with people watching us plenty of times. Usually my handmaidens, though, but you get the point.” She chuckled one last time, before turning serious again. “You can relax, Sam. My modesty is safe from you and your brother. Because it’s about to happen now.”

What had been a bright sunny day in ancient Turkey, rapidly descended into darkness. The eclipse. All five of them were now in complete darkness. Dean could barely make out Muwatti get up from the bed and head towards a tiny table in the corner to light up one of the oil lamps. He heard a door opening from behind him, when he saw that on the tiny table were a bunch of clay tablets. He wanted to ask if her tablet, the one she will get locked inside of was there, when dream Muwatti was attacked from behind by someone, making her fall on the ground. Zuwa, who after hearing the thud of her fall, had started moving towards Muwatti and the table. But the attacker walked over Muwatti’s unconscious body and slit his throat with the knife she had been holding. Probably had used the hilt of the same knife to attack Muwatti.

Then the attacker moved closer to the light and now all three of them could make out that it was a woman. She seemed to be looking for something, standing over the table. Dean asked Muwatti if she knew who she was. She had been staring with a blank look on her face at Zuwa, who was quickly losing blood and slowly dying. “That’s Ninshubur. My head handmaid and also a priestess of Ishtar. She wasn’t even supposed to be in Hattusa. She had left last night to visit her mother in a village few kilometres away.”

Sam, who had moved towards the other woman and was watching her, pointed towards her and added, “Dean, look at her. Both of you just come over and look at her. Look at what she is doing.” He moved closer towards the woman who was still standing at the table. She had dropped the knife and was now holding a tablet, the tablet, in her hand. But at the same time it seemed that she was trying to force herself drop the tablet using her other hand. They could make out, her muttering over and over again ‘bind her and bring her’. “That’s what you remembered as chanting.” said Sam. “I think she is being compelled to do it. Whoever did that to her, wanted her to bring you to them.”

Muwatti finally tore her eyes away from her dying lover and asked, “You mean someone is making - I mean, made her do all of this. Who?”

The other Muwatti on the floor had now woken up and after seeing a dying Zuwa, started moving towards him by crawling on the floor. She was clearly still disorientated from the hit on her head, as she was struggling to move. Ninshubur had by now lost the fight of control over herself against whatever spell she was under and started moving towards the still crawling Muwatti, with the tablet and the knife. Dean wanted to stop her, it was his first instinct to jump in front of this other woman, but was stopped by his brother, who said that he can’t change anything. All of it had already happened. Ninshubur placed both the tablet and the knife on the ground next to her, and turned Muwatti over, to press her hands on her stomach.

Dean was still overwhelmed with the need to save someone or something. But Sam was right, he can’t change any of this. No one could. The only thing he could do was stand there and helplessly watch. She was still muttering ‘bind her and bring her’, and suddenly they were momentarily blinded by a bright white light, just like the one he saw at that night in the museum, when heaccidentally released her from the tablet. Dean could make out the form of Muwatti slowly disappearing and fading away, when Ninshubur grabbed the knife and plunged it in her abdomen. Even though it all happened too fast for him, he knew that it was deep enough that she wasn’t going to go anywhere, and was going to die in a few moments. Muwatti had by now completely disappeared, with the sun coming back and enveloping the whole room with light once again. And for the last time that night, everything around them started melting and fading away. They were once more surrounded in momentary darkness, before landing in the temple courtyard. Right where they had started.

Now that explains a few things. And at the same time raised even more questions for them.

“Whoever or whatever did all of that to you” Dean said while pointing towards her, “wanted you to be smuggled out of the city, cause-”

But was interrupted by Sam. “Cause they couldn’t get in. That means it really was either angels or demons behind this. But why didn’t they come after you again? I mean they could’ve sent someone else to-.” 

This time Muwatti interrupted Sam. “Because they didn’t know where I was. Can’t you see? Ninshubur picked up the tablet bycomplete chance. It was a random choice by her. They must’vejust said to her to pick any object and lock me in it. They never saw where she put me, because the warding prevented the angels or the demons or whatever else from seeing anything happening inside the capital. Even if they did sent another person, they still couldn’t get to me, because they didn’t know it was that tablet they had to look for.”

Dean agreed with that and could see that Sam agreed as well. “They wanted you bound and brought to them, and their biggest mistake turned out to be never specifying in what. And also I think that Ninshubur gained enough control over herself to take her own life rather than bring you over to them. Guess they didn’t count on that happening either.” Now if only they could figure out who these ‘they’ were. He couldn’t even be sure about their fucking species. Or even what the binding spell actually was. They had reached the end of the road, as far as them using her memories to figure out what happened to her and also what happened between him and her that night in the museum. Cause they now have a whole other series of questions that needed answering. Just like the one she had pointed out earlier, why would the Mark save her?

All three of them were standing in complete silence. The other two probably asking the same question as he was. He and Sam had a silent conversation about who was going to be the first to speak, but both of them chickened out after seeing the look of her face. It was the same blank expression she had while staring at the dying Zuwa. But as it turned out, it was Muwatti who spoke out first, that it was time to wake up.

Dean opened his eyes and saw the faded paint of the cheap motel’s ceiling. He heard the rustling of sheets beside him, Sam on the other bed, and in front of him, Muwatti on the pull out. He checked the time and saw that it was barely fifteen minutes since they had all gone to bed. Safe to say none of them went back to sleep that night. All three of them spent the whole night in dark silence. Just like the one in that damn tablet.


	11. Chapter 11

_You’re losing control alil._

Muwatti felt like she was standing in the middle of a storm. 

_Princesses are not supposed to lose. My daughter is not supposed to lose._

Except she was dreaming and the storm was in her mind, and the wind, rain, lightening, and thunder attacking her, were her own memories.

_Your memories of him, you mean._

A tingle at the back of her neck told her that Dean was about to enter this tempest of her own creation. But she ended up doing exactly what she has been doing for the past two nights, since that enlightening night, she pushed him out.

_Of course, can’t have the tall one with sparkling eyes seeing all of this. He’ll either end up thinking you’re insane or worse, end up pitying you._

Why did the Mark release her, and in this manner? Why is she able to command its bearer? And for what purpose? Why the fuck can Dean feel what she’d feeling and enter her dreams and actually be able to see this madness? 

_It must kill you that he’ll always know the very things that you deny._

She was pulled out of her thoughts, when the younger version of her went running past her. With him chasing behind her.

_He was always chasing you. He chased you right up to his death, and all because you were too weak to let him go._

There were still so many question that needed to be answered. Even though every answer till now has only raised even more questions.

_And hurt. And pain. And suffering._

Like, where the fuck is her mother? Her soul never ended up anywhere, so is she dead? Alive? Stuck in a sandal or necklace somewhere, waiting for the Mark to release her as well? 

_You’ve always hated not knowing things. You’ve always needed to have all the answers._

The empress had an unique way of raising her only daughter. Everything was either a lesson or a test, all geared towards preparing Muwatti for a life where she’ll be under constant threat. Everyone was either an enemy or a disposable tool, even family. 

_I did what I did to guarantee your survival. And it worked your whole life, didn’t it?_

Which makes all of this, even thinking about her mother, completely aggravating. The woman was paranoid over everything and held mistrust for everyone, and raised her to be just like her. But somehow she never told her own daughter, or even warned her about the fact that creatures of Heaven and Hell would want her dead.

_It wasn’t supposed to be this way, alil._

How can she survive now, when her opponents were literal angels and demons? She has been stripped of everything, her power, her wealth, her army, her family, her ambitions, her identity, her life.

_Your love. Your happiness. Your hopes. Your dreams. Did I cover everything or are you going to continue to complain? It’s not like we have things to deal with or work to do._

She has nothing now. 

She is nothing now.

_You can’t give up alil. You have to fight. Remember what I told you. The war doesn’t matter. The enemy doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters, and has always mattered to me, is that you survive. At any cost._

Again Muwatti thinks about her mother. If it had been her anni who managed to survive in that tablet, how would she be faring right now? She had always been so strong and so fearless. Even when facing enemies from all sides, she still managed to look strong. Nothing could break her. Nothing could frighten her. Muwatti wonders if her anni was still fearless at the moment of her own disappearance, when she realised that she had lost? She tries to think back, if she was scared at the moment of her own disappearance. Maybe she was. At that moment, under those circumstances, who wouldn’t be? Then she remembers her brother’s shock and his screams, when he finally came back to Hattusa from another war, victorious as always, with no Tawananna to welcome him. All the while she was right there, and he was so close, if only she could reach that damn fake moon, which seemed to be always taunting her. 

The tablet took away her fear, the same way it took away everything else from her. It used the greatest weapon there was, time, and it took, and it took, and it took from her, until she was completely hollow. Maybe that’s where her fear is now, she has left it behind in the tablet. Without her fear, she has defeated the tablet, she has even defeated time itself. Unlike her anni. Henti may have taught her daughter to survive, but Muwatti taught herself to win. Because survival doesn’t amount to anything, if you keep losing everything. 

* * *

Dean was never one for getting up with the sun types, unlike his little brother, however he did wake up uncharacteristically early this morning. But honestly, he’s tired of taking a break and he needs to get back to what he does best. Hunting. He knows Sam is not going to be excited about that particular idea, when they still have no idea when the Mark will start asserting control over him again, but he needs this damn break to end. And he knows that even Sam needs that as well. Just the fact that he’s still asleep and not finishing running laps around the motel, was more than enough proof that the Winchesters need a case. Because hunting is something he is good at and more importantly, something over which he has control. That and also fixing up Baby, which is what he’s doing now, while listening to music. Practically therapeutic really. See, he doesn’t a break. 

“There’s quite a lot of intricate work involved in something so big. Though you seem to enjoy doing it, don’t you?” Muwatti asked him, who was standing beside him and, well, observing him.

Truthfully, they actually did have a case. Hers. Not that they were making much progress with it. It has been two days since they had left Washington, and they hadn’t managed to learn anything new since then. The day after, they did get in touch with Cas, who was still on his angel tracking and reorientation mission, but that didn’t go anywhere either. A rogue angel might have been responsible for trapping her in that tablet. Or maybe it was the upper management behind it, all the while keeping it a secret from others. Wouldn’t be the last time they’ll be doing that, now would it? The angel did add that no one in Heaven knew about the lost Hittite princess being lost no more. He hadn’t even said anything to Hannah, who was still with him and who’d probably end up warning the rest of them about Muwatti, if she found out. Her reemergence hadn’t set off any alarms or anything. It’s not like they had anyone keeping their eyes and ears on the ground for new developments, they’ve had bigger things to deal with since then. For the angels, Muwatti and Henti, were nothing more than long forgotten tales. And it had to stay that way. If the angels found out that Muwatti was down here on earth, then diminished numbers or not, they will track her down and kill her. Which made asking around even more difficult for Castiel. Everyone upstairs was suspicious enough of him, and him suddenly brining up things from the past would only end up unnecessarily alerting them about her. And on top of it, there were still demons after her magical blood. So all in all, they were doing pretty fucking great on her case. They had no new information and any misstep could lead to them endangering her.

  
He takes a break from his endless thoughts and says to her “You’re right, I do enjoy working on cars. Especially her.” He said while pointing towards Baby. “I can break her down and put her back together. In fact, I have done that, several times actually.”

“How come?” 

“In our line of work, we get hurt a lot. Monster and demons are crazy strong and can easily fling us like rags dolls. And sometimes, we’re in the car when that happens.” He closed the hood and moved towards the back of the car, to check up on the weapons, with her following him as well. “I’ve been fixing dents, scratches, regular wear and tear, practically all my life now. And no matter how bad the damage may be, I’ve been able to take care of it.”

“Well, you must be good at it, because she is magnificent. Though clearly I’m not an expert and very much biased, since Baby is the only car I’ve ever been in.” 

Muwatti seemed to be taking the whole news of angels and demons wanting to hunt her and kill her really well. Maybe it takes a lot to faze someone from the Bronze Age. He pointed this out to her. To which she smiled and said, “Is this because you’re not sensing enough fear from me, Dean?” 

And truthfully he didn’t. At least, not fear, that is. He got a lot of frustration though, with a speckling of bitter sadness and flashes of anger. But even that was to a lesser degree these days. Maybe after finding out that he can tell what she is feeling, she has been making efforts to hide them from him. And he can’t really complain, now can he? He doesn’t want to invade her mind and psyche any more than she wants him to. Even these past two nights, every time he’s about to enter her dreams, she blocks him and pushes him out. Now that they had found everything they could about the day she disappeared from her memories, there wasn’t really a good enough reason for him to go trekking through the streets of Hattusa. However, his curiosity got better of him and he asked her why she was going through the effort of stopping him every night. 

“I simply thought I’d spare you from witnessing a melodramatic teenage princess throwing temper tantrums over a boy.” 

Fair enough. He tried to assure her that his intention wasn’t to pry, but she stopped him midway his explanation. “I know. Though I wouldn’t blame you for being inquisitive. This entire experience,” she pointed towards the duplicate Mark on her left thigh, underneath her leggings, “is just as odd for me as it is for you, and we can’t exactly go around asking for advice. Unless some other hunter found Queen Nefertiti after all this time and they’re travelling through Italy or somewhere else.”

“Yeah, I doubt that. It’s just that, I guess, I was worried or something.”

Somehow, that was the thing that finally managed to shock her.Though you wouldn’t be able to tell that, just by looking at her face. She was surprised to the point that he was able to sense it in her, himself. Even if it was just for a moment, before she shut it down immediately. He asked her why would him worrying about her cause such disbelief. 

“The fact that other Knights of Hell might be after me and me having the ability to control you, I’m not surprised that you would be worried. What surprises me is how much of a genuinely good person you are.” Now it was his turn to be shocked, and his must have been apparent by his face, as she quickly added, “What I mean to say is, I’m a complete stranger, whose responsibility has basically been forced on you. Yet instead of resenting me or finding ways to get rid of me, you actually want to help me. And not just because of this strange bond thing between us, as I had previously assumed. Your behaviour towards me goes beyond simply offering protection and shelter and sustenance. In the last two days, you’ve bought me five bottles of hibiscus body wash, in the hopes I’ll be less sad. Because that’s what you do. Both of you sit in that car and travel everywhere,” as if to emphasis her point, she flung out her arm, “and help people, because you care. Even though you get nothing in return. Quite the opposite, from what little you’ve told me, there’s nothing but loss and pain in this line of work. Honestly, I’m almost tempted to order you to be more selfish.” 

Dean wasn’t sure if he was being admired or being reprimanded for his life choices, however the last part did make him laugh a bit. Even if, he was only half sure that she was joking. But hey, maybe someday he might take her up on her offer. Which reminded him of another thing he wanted to ask her for quite sometime. “Can I ask you something?” He continued when she nodded. “Why don’t you order me around more?”

“Would you like me to order you around Mr. Winchester?” 

And somehow he lost his ability to speak, because his only reply was random spluttering. Which seemed to greatly amuse her, if her laughter was any indication. Yup, definitely can’t faze a princess. 

“It’s too easy with you. The best part of ordering people around is when I could see fear in their eyes that they might fail and then I’d order someone else to behead them. On the other hand, you’ll just end up doing it without hesitation.” 

“Are you disappointed over the fact that it’s too easy for you to control me?”

“A bit. I’d imagine me doing anything with you would be really boring and absolutely no fun.”

“You know what, you’re mean and annoying. Princesses aren’t supposed to be like that.”

“How would you know? Give me the exact number of princesses you’ve met before me. Or were you expecting me to act like Asuka?” He had to ask who the hell was she talking about. “She’s from that movie on your laptop, called Sweet Princess Asuka Meets the Tentacles of - ”

Thankfully Sam, who was finally awake, walked out of their room, effectively stopping Muwatti from finishing her sentence and engine the conversations. At least that’s what he thought had happened, because when Sam asked what were they talking about, she promptly answered him, “Well I was going to ask your brother why he likes masturbating to images to octopuses so much? Or rather, does he want to be an octopus?”

How did this become the topic of conversation?

Why did this become the topic of conversation?

“Why are we talking about this?” Dean, in a search for answers, turned his face up skywards, which meant he missed Muwatti trying to suppress another amused laugh. As well as, a thoroughly confused Sam.

“Because I want to know whose idea was this whole idea thing anyway, who thought ‘this orgy is so boring, but I can fix that, with slimy and slithering tentacles’.”

“What is happening? How long have the both of you been up?” Asked a still thoroughly confused Sam.

“Nothing. Ignore her.” Dean pleaded. “And long enough to find us a case.” All the while practically shoving the newspaper in his brother’s hands, which talked about the missing high school drama teacher. Sam had his doubts, both over if there was a case at all or if Dean was really back to normal, where he could handle cases once again. But, in their world, what can be considered normal anyways. Besides they had work to do.


	12. Chapter 12

Before going to the high school, the three of them had to make a quick stop to buy fake FBI clothes for Muwatti, because she was coming with them. Initially Sam wasn’t sure about that. However she gave her word she’ll never say ‘tentacles’ ever again, if she got to go with them. After which the brothers quickly agreed. Besides they were only to be asking around, what could go wrong?

The younger Winchester still wasn’t sure what to make of her. After the stunt he pulled by entering her mind like that, he was sure that she be pissed at him. But she seemed fine. Really fine. Disturbingly so. And when he asked her if she was actually alright with what he had done, the only thing she had to say was, “Besides the fact that I can hear my anni shouting in my head about how anger has a corrosive effect on human nature and damages my chances for survival, I understand your reasons for doing it. You were scared, for Dean. And as someone who had to do a lot of horrible things for her own brothers, I understand why you thought you had to do it. I’m not going to say I wasn’t angry with you. Because I was and still am, a bit. There was even a moment when I thought about shaving off all that hair. But then I told myself, ‘No, you can’t do that, Muwatti. He doesn’t have his brother’s exquisite bone structure. The taller one with magical dimples clearly needs the hair to frame his face. Especially that forehead.’.” Even though she said that with a sweet enough smile, he still had to check his scalp the next morning. He was soon realising that she loved to get under the brothers’ skins. And honestly, she is funny, which is a good thing because he has been messing up when it comes to her. For example, last night, when the three of them decided to watch a movie and he ended up picking _Oldboy_. It didn’t hit him that he was basically making her relive her own capture and captivity, until thirty minutes into the movie when Dean started throwing death glares at him, and by then it was too late. He should’ve just picked _Harry Potter_. The only thing she had to say, when the credits started rolling, was at least she doesn’t have to worry about accidentally committing incest like Dae-Su. Maybe her accompanying them on this hunting trip would be a good thing, if only to prove to her they aren’t complete insensitive morons. And by ‘they’, he’s talking about himself.

Sam was waiting for Muwatti outside the trial room, while Dean was getting her a fake ID, when he heard his name being angrily shouted out. He went to check if she was alright, when the curtain was forcibly pulled aside, and a heel was thrown at his chest, which he quickly caught before it could fall on the floor. 

He looked up to see a very angry Muwatti, whose shirt buttons were still not done, and he could see her plain tan-coloured bra underneath. “What the fuck is that? That thing is pure evil.” She angrily asked him, “More importantly, what man is responsible for that? And it mostly definitely was a man, because I highly doubt a woman thought to herself ‘I hate walking comfortably, I much prefer if I’m in pain every time I take a step’.”

How did he reach this point?

Why did he reach this point?

Sam had to make sure that his eyes stayed on her face, and said, “Muwatti you have to wear them. It’s just a shoe-“

“It most certainly is not a shoe, Sam. Shoes are supposed to offer protection and make walking easier. Whereas that thing,” she angrily pointed at the offending piece of footwear, still in his hands, “is simply evil.” Nonetheless she took it back, when he offered the simple black heel back to her with a pleading look on his face. He was about to walk away when she stopped him by saying, “You can’t leave, I actually do need your help with the buttons.”

“What?” 

“I don’t know how to do them. Dean always buttons up his shirts before giving them to me and I just slip them on.”

He made an attempt to give reasons as to why he can’t help her, but he seemed to have lost his ability to speak. However the decision was made for him, when Muwatti grabbed his tie and pulled him inside, and reassured him that if Demon Dean could teach her how to put on a bra, he could certainly help her with the tiny buttons. 

The younger Winchester was still in a state of shock after hearing that, while she simply pulled the curtain back. He had to confirm if he heard her correctly. “Yes, he did.” She got a far away look on her face just for a minute, as if to remember all the strange things she got to witness during that time. Maybe one day, he’d get both of them to tell him all about it. “Though I did get the feeling that he was more used to taking it off rather than putting it on someone. And considering how many women I saw him with, I’d imagine he’d had to be.”

“Wait, are you saying he brought back women, while you were there?” He asked her, feeling strangely nervous about her answer. He’s definitely going to need to hear about that entire period. 

However she reassured him that that’s not what happened. She had a room of her own and, his brother, as a demon, much preferred to defile Crowley’s bed. “What amazes is all those women had no idea that they were having sex with a demon. I realise that Dean is an incredibly handsome man, with beautiful features, but was it really worth smelling rotten eggs every time they kissed him?” Sam snorted and quickly covered his mouth to suppress some of the noise. He didn’t want them to get caught and be thrown out by the shop assistants. “I can’t even imagine it. Having sex with a demon.” That part did shut him up. However, Sam Winchester has an incredibly expressive face and Princess Muwatti was very good at reading faces and deciphering the secret behind them. Which is why, no one should be surprised as to what happened next. “By the hands of Ishtar, you’ve had sex with a demon. Were you tricked? But how? Surely you’d be able to pick up the signs and, more importantly, smells, right? Or did you do it willingly?” And once more he had lost his ability to speak. “Is that a hunter’s technique? Have you had sex with other supernatural creatures?”

“No, I mean - What happened was -You know what, it doesn’t matter.” For very obvious reasons, Sam really doesn’t want to discuss either Ruby or Madison with a half-naked Muwatti, while staying in this claustrophobic trial room. And it was then he realised that he hadn’t even began on her buttons, and she was still standing in front of him half-naked. After taking a deep breathe, he started with the ones on her cuffs first. “You really don’t have a problem being naked in front of other people, do you?” 

It was very clearly a deflecting tactic, and Muwatti knew that, if the amused smirk on her face was any indicator. Though she decided to take pity on the poor giant and let him think he managed to stir the conversation from him to her. “I suppose I’m not one who had worry about being seen naked by others, rather it was everyone else who had to worry about getting caught staring at me by my brothers, who’d simply gouged out their eyes.”

“That sound a bit antiquated.” He was done with one hand, and had moved on to the other one.

Which only made her giggle. “Very good, Sam. Bronze Age is one of the periods of antiquities. I can see why you’re called the smarter Winchester.” And now for the several minuscule buttons, in front of her shirt. “Zuwa was the obvious exception. The five blond bastards knew they couldn’t harm him. Much, that is. Not only were they cocky and arrogant royals, but also were his commanding officers, and they rarely missed an opportunity to take advantage of that. For an entire year, he had to clean all the military stables in the capital. I think they thought he’d get tired and leave, but he didn’t. He was always there and I couldn’t even tell him…” But she never got to finish her sentence as he ran out of buttons. She thanked him, while tucking the shirt inside her skirt, and stepped away from him to grab the matching blazer. 

This was the first time he’d heard her talk about anything related to her lost, or rather suppressed, memories, which surprised him. From what Dean had told him, she hadn’t said anything to him either, in fact she was actively trying to keep him out of her dreams now. He wanted to say something to her. But what could he say? I’m sorry that I made to remember the horrible things your mind was clearly trying to hide from you? I understand what you’re going through because I’ve lost people I love as well? 

Wait, hang on, did he ever apologise to her about that night? Can he do it now? He should, right?

However he missed his chance, when she said to him that they should find Dean. She had tucked her hair in a neat bun and was ready to leave now. But he still hesitated. “Don’t worry Sam. I’ll wear the evil shoes.” She slipped the heels on her feet and then walked out.

* * *

Dean was waiting for Sam and Muwatti to come back from the clothing store. Since he had no interest hanging around articles of clothing, he had jumped at the chance to go and prepare a bunch of fake IDs for her, along with the FBI one. He chuckled as he thought back to when he had to take a picture of her on his phone and then she asked him if it would hurt, which reminded him that she really was a woman out of time. He shouldn’t forget that, but somehow he did, maybe because she appeared to be doing fine enough. Then he remembered her description of swivels chairs, when she first saw them, and this time he had to laugh. He wasn’t really interested in reliving or revisiting that entire time, but his interactions with Muwatti might be the one thing that would make it worth it all. Who would’ve thought that a petite ancient princess would prove to be a worthy adversary for his demon self? The day she discovered what happens to demons after hearing the word ‘Christo’ might just be his favourite. Although he is still horrifiedthat she basically ordered him to teach her how to drive Baby.His Baby. She drove her. She’s a quick learner though and in just two days became a proficient enough driver, but no one comes between Baby and him. And he may never have forgiven her, if he didn’t know for a fact that the order was her way of getting revenge, for demon him only buying thongs for her to wear. She really enjoyed annoying his demon self. A habit she seems to have continued on, now that he was back to being a human, as well. But then again that might have to do with the fact that she was the youngest of six siblings, and that’s her personality. 

He saw Sam and Muwatti approaching him, when he heard one of their many cell phones start ringing inside the glovebox. He wasn’t surprised. The brothers keep nearly all of their past numbers, in case any other hunter needs to get in contact with them or vice versa. However they had basically ignored the whole lot of them during their little break. Both he and Sam spent the morning making sure the phones were operational once more. He grabbed the phone and answered it, while waving at his brother to hurry up. 

“Dean Winchester?” He heard a male voice, with a slight accent, on the other side. “I’ve been trying to reach you for a very long time. You’ve proven to be quite elusive.”

“Well, you’ve reached me now. So what can I do for you?” The man said about having a question for him. “And what would that be?”

“Why did you take the tablet?” The question, asked in a smug tone,made his blood run cold. The other two had reached the car by now, and he quickly signalled them to be silent, while stepping out of the car. Looking at his serious and panicked face, they complied. He quickly turned on the speaker, so they could hear as well. The man continued, “That’s what we can’t figure out. Why would Dean Winchester take an ancient Hittite tablet?” After hearing the last part, both Sam and Muwatti now had the same serious and panicked expressions on their faces, but continued to listen silently. “When we first heard about the tablet going missing in the news, we didn’t think much of it. In fact, I was completely sure that it would show up somewhere in the underground market, and was concentrating on that. However it never did, because you have it. But why did you take it Dean?”

“Who the fuck are you? And what are you talking about?”

“Apologies.” Though he didn’t sound even the tiniest bit apologetic. “Guess all the excitement made us forget our manners. I am Uvall, and with me are Zagan and Ronove, and we are your fellow Knights of Hell.” A part of him knew that was going to be his answer, but hearing it still made him wish he could burn the damn phone and throw it as far away as possible. Instead the only thing he could was say that he wasn’t a Knight anymore. “Oh yes, unfortunately for us, you’ve went back to being a human. It would have so much easier if you were still a demon, because we would have been able to track you, and then we could’ve had this conversation face to face, in a more civilised manner. However we acted late. You see, something truly extraordinary happened in the empire of the Hittites all those years ago, and ever since then we’ve been invested in anything to do with them. I mean just imagine, spending all that time keeping tabs, but the one time, the only one time we didn’t immediately jump on first sign of news or take it seriously, would turn out to be our biggest mistake. A mistake we don’t plan on repeating.”

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about. I am not a Knight of freaking Hell and I don’t have a tablet or anything.”

“Don’t lie Winchester, you’re not good at it.” Said a second male voice. “I was in that museum, and not only were demons killed there but also a Knight had been there.” The voice belonged to Zagan. “Crowley did a good enough job for the pathetic humans, but I could still tell what had happened there. You have the tablet. Now tell us where is it?”

The first voice, Uvall, made Zagan calm down and continued talking again, in the same smug tone. “We know you have the tablet, don’t deny it. It went missing the same night as the one, when you killed all of those Abbadon supporters. These are not unrelated incidents. You didn't leave the museum empty-handed, and more we think about it, the more information we getting, the more sure we are that you didn’t leave alone either.”

“What the hell are you talking about? You know what, I don’t care because I don’t give a flying fuck about - ”

“We don’t give a flying fuck about you either, Dean,” This was the third voice, a female. “If you really like the damn relic of a tablet then you can bloody well keep it, I just want to know one thing. Which one is it? The lost empress or the lost princess?” 

For Dean the only befitting reply was to smash the phone under his shoe.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short update, but to be honest I'm going to really enjoy doing these next couple of chapters. Comments are appreciated.

Muwatti had suspected after that particular conversation with the Knights, Dean would’ve gone back on his idea of bringing her with them. That man just loves to carry the burdens of the whole world, doesn’t he? It’s almost as if, he doesn’t know how to function if he’s not worrying over something or holding himself responsible for everything around him, but especially Sam. No, he’d much prefer to worry over other things, because if he doesn’t do that, he’d have to worry about himself. And somehow he’s convinced himself that he can never do that. 

Just like every other member of her family, she too had her own responsibilities and duties, and shirking them would have meant the death of people and destruction of her family. But that doesn’t even begin to compare to what Dean must constantly feel. It was such a stark contrast to her time with him when he was a demon, who did whatever he wanted. At first glance anyone could think that the human Dean does whatever he wants as well, but it’s not the same thing. His indulgences are without substance and are temporary, and does them intentionally that way. Because he truly believes that he doesn’t deserve the kind of happiness that is long-lasting and meaningful, no matter how much he may desire them. It’s a wonder that the man has strength to get up every morning. 

Then there is Sam, who is also burdened, but instead of indulging in various vices, like his elder brother, he choses to embrace his anger and guilt, to the point where all of his actions and thoughts are directed by them. That’s how he was when she first laid eyes on him. Angry over losing his brother. Guilty over losing his brother. He was so focused on that one task that he didn’t even notice that his anger and guilt were overpowering him. Was his plan really to run around the Bunker until the dyewara showed up? 

However Muwatti was slowly realising that charging into danger, all the while solely relying on luck, seemed to be the default Winchester behaviour. The type of luck that never runs out. She wouldn’t have let Demon Dean do anything, mostly because her stopping him from killing Sam, would definitely have annoyed him. However it was clear that Sam can be careless sometimes. Maybe it was because of his desperation to get his brother back. Along with anger and guilt, he was also lost, and in that state, getting his big brother back was the only acceptable outcome for him, even if he can become a bit rash and acts too quickly, without really thinking about it. 

Like the movie from last night. She’s sure that he wasn’t intentionally trying to be cruel and must have genuinely thought that it would be an enjoyable experience for all for them, she absolutely believes that. But how the fuck did he not see it? The similarities and the specificities. As well as, being very accurate. So fucking accurate. That is not to say that she went around dry-humping the demons around her, but she did spent the first few days touching everything she could get her hands on. As long as it wasn’t a smooth stone floor. Demon Dean was very much confused, for obvious reasons. 

After last night, she had learned that nothing can come between Sam Winchester and Sam Winchester’s plan, no matter what may happen. Once he’s decided he has decided to do something, he will do it, despite the several good several good reasons why he should stop. However she can’t help but wonder, what if one day the price just ends up being too high, and her making a joke in an attempt to brush it off wouldn’t be enough to make a difference. He is a very determined man. Also very judgemental, just like the historians. For people who do not hold a degree in human psychology, and only in history, and are no where near qualified to be analysing her mental state, they really love doing that. 

Understanding what kind of men they are, has become quite an interesting exercise for her. It’s either them or keeping up with all those people on the television. And despite the fact that they don’t appear to do much, it’s very clear they are part of the cultural milieu and unfortunately are basically unavoidable. Anyways, all she could do was make observations on the brothers, who certainly had an unfair advantage over her and could simply read up any number of books about her. Too bad she can’t return the favour. 

* * *

Despite having made the decision to apologise to Muwatti, Sam still hadn’t. After the phone call with the Knights, he didn’t know how to bring it up. He had finished his call with the police when they pulled up to the high school and then Dean made fun of theatrical past, or more accurately, the lack there of. They were on their way to the principal’s office, after asking for direction from a student passing by, when he noticed Muwatti frowning and asked her if she was alright. “Just getting a headache all of a sudden. Which is weird, because I don’t get them unless I’m…” She broke off and started to look around the hallway. However she simply shook her head and told him that she’s fine and not to worry.

“Are you sure? With the Knights being suspicious and everything, it would be natural for you to be …….” He seemed to flounder, straining to search for an accurate word but instead just said, “not fine?” Dean pointed out this was the exact reason he was always assigned tech and never could land an acting role. 

“For the last time, to the both of you,” She said while posting at Dean and him, “I am fine. Just because I’m not crippled with fear, doesn’t mean I don’t understand the severity of my situation. What you have to understand is that someone or something has always wanted to kill me. I was only a few hours old, when I was poisoned for the first time. This is not a new experience for me. It’s just that angels and demons have replaced pharaohs, kings,nobles, and royal stepmothers.”

“Few hours old?” Dean repeated her words back, in shock. “Who poisons a baby?”

She shrugged and calmly stated, “Not sure who really was behind it, but anni and atti decide to lay the blame on the King of Mitanni, because it was the perfect reason for going to war against his kingdom. Which paid off really well, because we ended up gaining large stretches of the previously disputed lands.”

Somehow that ends up shocking his brother even more. “Wow. Their new born daughter gets poisoned, but Henti and Suppi- Suppum-,”

“Suppiluliumas I.” He decided to put his brother out of his misery and help him. 

Muwatti couldn’t help but giggle at their interaction and said, “I realise it sounds absolutely horrid but empire comes first.”

They talked to Principal Salazar, who gladly answered all of their questions, and then walked them to the auditorium, where Ms. Chandler was last seen. It appears that the students had decided to move on ahead with the play, whatever it was, without the actual teacher. 

Sam once again thinks that maybe Dean was wrong, and there is no case here after all. But such thought went right out of the window when he heard the words ‘you idjits’. As well as Muwatti asking them, “Why is that child dressed like Castiel?”

* * *

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

Dean could barely register Muwatti’s question, because his entire system had gone in shock. And then the singing started. How many times more will he have to witness their lives as a form of entertainment media? More importantly, why, just why in the name of everything that is holy, are they singing? He heard his brother say that this might have something to do with their case. Way to go Sammy, making real good use of that college education now, aren’t you?

“How come there is a play with singing children about the two of you?” Muwatti asked in an extremely amused tone.

He saw Sam make the face he usually makes whenever he gets a headache, and pinch the bridge of his nose, and answered her, “A prophet of god wrote multiple books about our lives as hunters,” he had to pause, as she sniggered, before covering her mouth and letting him continue, “and it’s called _Supernatural_. And I think, this play is based on those books.” And with that whatever little self-control she had, was gone completely and she bursted out laugh. Glad to see she was enjoying herself.

A girl, who had been giving orders to everyone on stage, ran up the stairs towards them. She introduced herself as the director and writer of this monstrosity. Sam introduced themselves as special agents, when Dean pointed towards the stage that there is no singing in _Supernatural_.

“I have to disagree with you Agent Smith. Dean loves to sing.” Interrupted Muwatti, in a perfect American accent. Since when has she been able to do that? Sam was also surprised to hear that. This day is just filled with all manners of surprises for them now, isn’t it? “Practically does it all the time. While cleaning his weapons, while driving Baby, while making food, and even while eating the food. He’s clearly a man who was born to sing.” The overly enthusiastic director, called Marie, sounded really pleased hearing that and totally agreed with her. How dare she? And asked Muwatti if she has read the books as well. “Unfortunately no,” replied the ancient princess, still in the flawless American accent, “Let’s just say I’ve very recently stumbled upon the brothers, but still not sure if they’re for me yet. However after seeing this performance I would love nothing more than to get my hands on the books. Seems to be the perfect way to get answers for my several questions.”

Sam tried to steer the conversation back to the case and the Chandler woman, who apparently had a questionable relationship with alcohol. And who can blame the poor woman. Dean would love some alcohol right now himself, and by some he means a whole fucking lot. Preferably for his eyes. However the other girl, Maeve, clearly didn’t appreciate him voicing his distaste for Marie’s interpretation out loud. They decided go with the girls and look around the school for clues. Fine by him. The sooner they finish with this place, the quicker they can leave this broadway mess that has become his life. Apologies, Marie’s interpretation of his worst nightmare. As the girls walked away from the three of them, Muwatti asked, in her regular Hittite accent, once again, what happens now. Which reminded him, “How are you able to do that accent?”

“I learned to speak your languages by basically overhearing a bunch of people with a lot of PhDs., some even in linguistics. So yes, after a hundred years, I was able to pick up accents. I can also do a British one.” She stated proudly in her normal accent. “Ijust thought my regular way of speaking would draw too much attention.”

Tallying up what things she knows about or didn’t know anything at all, was turning out to an entertaining game for him. Most of the stuff that she’s familiar with, had to do with history, because big surprise to no one, historians while surrounded by historical artefacts, liked to talk about history. A lot. However sometimes she asks about completely random things that she remembers overhearing some scholar mention long time ago, and then has several questions for him and Sam about it. Like the time when she simply just had to know everything there was about highlighters. Yellow ones are her favourite.

Her talent for shifting accents certainly seemed to impress his brother. Typical nerdy Sammy, the woman claims she used to have regular lesbian orgies, but her historical knowledge and mastery over languages and accents is what ends up actually intriguing the guy. Nerd. Sam’s disastrous movie night related decisions aside, the two of them seemed to be getting along now. He still felt guilty and ashamed over what he did to her, which is the only reason he hadn’t bombarded the poor woman with questions about the past and her people. There’s only one thing worse than a nerd folks,and that’s a history nerd.

Sam was going to look for EMF, trailing Maeve, while he was going to check for cursed objects with Marie. Now what to do with Muwatti. However he need not have bothered at all, since she started moving towards the stage. When he asked her where she was going, she replied, after switching her accent once again, “What we came here to do, agents. Conducting an investigation and asking around questions, of course. Starting with baby Sammy and big brother Dean.” She pointed towards the girls dressed like them, standing at the centre of the stage. “I have very specific questions for them, agents.”

The only reason he didn’t physically stop her, was because Sam reminded him to not cause a scene. Even though he, too, was panicking, over what she was going to ask those girls. How can a woman go from being so sweet to being completely evil? Then he remembered, she used to be a politician.

* * *

Muwatti was learning so many new things since leaving the tablet almost two months ago. The Earth, which is round, is the third planet from the sun, and lacking any understanding of elementary physics, that’s all she was capable of grasping, for now. Hunters aren’t nearly as violent as was she excepting them to be. Most of it had to do with lying, wearing different costumes, asking questions, tracking people, and researching. The actual hunting part, where they fought things, was the very last stage of the whole process.

However the most important thing, the most tantalising thing that she has learned, is that there are books about the brothers. And she wants them. It could be said that she couldn’t possibly want anything more in her whole life, but she’ll always want gold more, no matter what. She used to have so much of it, and now she’s bloody destitute. The pain of realising that she literally has nothing, was only slightly more than the pain currently in her head, which she really wished would stop. Having that headache was never a good thing for her. She would’ve voiced her concerns to the Winchesters, but the pain was still manageable, which meant it was still safe. They would’ve just left her at the motel if she had said anything. And she can’t go from being locked up in the tablet to being locked up in tiny motel rooms.

The brothers had decided to split up to look around for clues about the case. Initially she thought that she could just go with Dean, however upon hearing the words cursed objects, she decided otherwise. After her past experience with curses involving missing women, she’s definitely not touching anything and will be keeping her arms to herself.

“Really? Sam is Marie’s favourite Winchester?” She couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice. After joining the girls, Siobhan and Maggie, the stage counterparts for Sam and Dean respectively, she asked them how did the play come into being. Which is how she found out that the judgemental giant was the young writer’s favourite Winchester. But then again he does have magical dimples. Right then, the lights around them started to flicker. The girls looked up front, so did Muwatti, copying them, and saw Sam in the window, high above them. Judging by his embarrassed expression and their amused ones, he clearly had been responsible for the mishap with the lights.

After turning back, Maggie continued their previous conversation, “She kinda does like both of them.” She said while pointing towards the clothes both of them were wearing. “But yeah, she’s totally partial towards Sam. He’s the sweet and sensitive one you see.” Between the whole breaking into her mind and that movie, no, she does not see it. “Which is why Sam has this really important solo.”

However Siobhan seemed to disagree with this assessment. “Only technically. Since even in that song, all Sam does is praise Dean.It’s called ‘Single Man Tear’.” Obviously she has to listen to this song. “In the earlier books, he had some sort of plot but now he is a one dimensional character who’s only job is to obsess about his big brother. All he does is totally react to whatever is happening to Dean. And make the iconic bitch face, of course.”

Whats’s the importance of saying the word ‘totally’? All of the girls really enjoy saying it in every other sentence. And what the fuck is a ‘bitch face’?

Maggie huffed in frustration as well, and ended up conceding with her friend. “You’re right. But come on, Dean is not better. In fact, I’d say he’s like worse than Sam.”

For the mercy of Ḫannaḫanna, child please, elaborate. Thankfully Muwatti’s wish was granted.

“All of his character is about protecting Sam, saving Sam, fighting for Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” Do the Winchesters know someone named Marcia? “I mean, I get why he is like that. Not only did he lose his mother at a very young age and got to know that monsters exist, but also take care of his baby brother, practically raising him, all because John was too busy to look after his own little children, because he had to go and steal a bunch of silver to make into bullets. After going through all that, there’s no way anyone won’t be so fuc-“ Maggie stopped herself, when she remembered that she was talking to an adult after all. “so burdened.”

In the course of preparing for their roles, all of the cast members were made to read the books, following Marie’s instructions. As she wanted to capture the authenticity of the B.M. scene. Which is a clever name for what the boys regularly like to do, where they stop in the middle of their very important journey, only to discuss their feelings. Sometimes they even forget that there is a third person with them, who absolutely does not want to participate in such a verbose display of brotherly love.

Carver Edlund had written a few dozen of them, some published and some solely existing on the internet, courtesy of someone who called themselves beckywinchester176. Was she Marcia? And after a very fruitful discussion with the these two, Muwatti soon realised that she is no where near the weirdest thing to happen to these two. Or even coming close to the creepiest thing they just happen to unleash upon the world. Is it really that hard for them to not create trouble or the very least stay away from it? More importantly if Lucifer is in charge of Hell, then how did Crowley ended up becoming its ruler? Is having the ability to sit down on fancy chairs, the only requirement for that job? She then asked the girls, considering the fact that the Winchesters end up having so many mishaps and misadventures, and also that they are flawed men, then why is their story so beloved.

And the simple answer was that because they are imperfect and make mistakes. Siobhan elaborated, “Their story goes beyond the simple monster-of-the-week thing. They have faced the most horrible and literally the most evil things that could possibly exist and have lost so much, and have their asses handed to them over and over. However they don’t give up, not even once. Mostly because they are somehow responsible for the evil thing being out in the first place. And maybe that’s what makes reading their story, which is filled with pain, suffering, and so much death,” Including theirs, because, as it turns out,even death isn’t a permanent state for them. How many times have these two come back after dying anyways? “any problem can be fixed.”

“And the fact that they love each other and would literally fight to death for the other, is kinda what makes them great.” Maggie chimed in. “They fight like all siblings do, obviously. But no one can question that those two have the most genuine and heartfelt moments. And that’s absolutely the backbone of the whole series.”

“For all your complains about them being one-dimensional characters, it does sounds as if you truly admire the Winchesters.” Both Maggie and Siobhan chuckled when she pointed this out to them. From the corner of her eyes, Muwatti noticed that both Dean and Sam were back in the auditorium. As well as noticing that her headache was slowly increasing.

“That was strictly an actor’s perspective.” The taller of the girls was the first to break the silence, “And while _Supernatural_ books are never going to considered a literary masterpiece, they are a good read. A guilty pleasure even, I’d say.”

“I mean, a story of two co-dependent psychopaths with daddy and mommy issues fighting monster that somehow reflects their own emotional state and relationship with each other, should not work, but somehow it does.” Maggie asserted, leaving Muwatti to wonder what are the differences between sociopaths and psychopaths, and more importantly, which one is worse.

Muwatti realised that she didn’t have much time, since the younger Winchester had started moving towards her and the girls. Maggie excused herself and approached the other girl who played Castiel in the play, and hugged her. However Siobhan stayed back as she still had one more thing to add. “Oh yeah, and Sam totally has a cursed dick.” It was hard to say what particular thing was the more bewildering and more amusing. Siobhan’s statement or Sam’s expression, since he had come near enough to hear the last part. “Nearly every women he has been with, has ended up dying. But then again the dude’s dick has even managed to kill off werewolves and demons, so what chance could regular human women can possibly have.”

A demon and a werewolf! It couldn’t possibly be Kate, since she’s still alive. But now she really has to know, if this is just how Sam Winchester hunts. Unfortunately she couldn’t get any more answers or ask any more questions, since Sam, after overcoming his shock, approached them and loudly stated that they are leaving. Right now. Muwatti said her farewell to Siobhan and thanked her for talking to her and answering so many of her questions.

Turning back towards the hunter, she could see regret at bringing her with them and exasperation at her behaviour clearly written on his face. But what was she supposed to do after finding out about the books, not be a busybody?

“You clearly enjoyed yourself, didn’t you?” Still donning that irritated face. Wait a minute, is that what they meant by ‘bitch face’? How did she not see it, Dean calls his little brother a ‘bitch’ all the time. It was so obvious, the clues were right in front of her.

“I did.” That wasn’t a lie or even an exaggeration. It’s the most fun she’s had in over three thousand years. This was even better than messing with Demon Dean. She was still using her American accent, as they were still around several of the girls. Dean and Marie were still talking at the corner, near the curtains. While the poor man in front of her had gone back to pinching the bridge of his nose.

By now, her own headache had finally become too much for her. Every instinct in her body told her to leave this place, and she walked away from him and the stage, as quickly as her feet could carry her. The first time she ever got such a headache was when she was ten years old and was made to receive a blessing by Ishtar ,as her new Alhuesragal. That headache meant there was a deity nearby. And this one was going to fully manifest soon. 

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated. I've been wondering if I should do a short side story about the time Muwattti and Demon Dean spent together and their own brand of misadventures. Anyone interested in that?


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a prequel to this story as well, called 'When Dean Met The Crazy Tablet', that's about Muwatti's initial days outside the tablet. It will be multi-parter, and both stories will be updated regularly, with this one being the long novel length. Please do check it out.

Despite the meta fuelled catastrophe they had to live through in the afternoon, this wasn’t their type of case. Sam really wanted to wash off this day and that school off of him. Soon after getting in the car, the three of them headed straight towards the local bar to grab a bite, which was right next to their motel. Not to mention Dean and him had a lot to discuss. That play, Muwatti enjoying herself a little too much over that play, still not having any idea about how to get rid of the Mark or how it ended up freeing her from the tablet, the possibility of the Knights catching up with them, those fucking books still being a thing and refusing to die, them still not having any idea what binds her curse and the Mark together.

“Will we be really leaving in the morning?” Muwatti asked them, while chewing on her fries. Sam noticed that’s basically all she ever eats. Apparently she really likes anything and everything potato. But really detest tomatoes. Now that he thought about it, is she really okay eating all of these modern food containing so much preservatives and god knows what else? Should he have her switch to organic? More importantly can he even mention that word in Dean’s presence? “Ms. Chandler is still missing, isn’t she?”

“It’s not really our type of case.” He said, finishing off his salad.“Sometimes people simply just go missing with no good reason, you know.”

Dean, who as always had ordered a burger, started to choke on his food. At the same time, he heard Muwatti mutter something like, still do not see the sweet and sensitive. His brother, after calming down and swallowing, turned towards him and calmly said, “She most certainly knows that people go missing with no good reason, Sammy. In fact she knows that better than anyone.”

Fucking hell.

He did it again.

Why? Just fucking why?

“Anyways.” Dean interrupted his brother’s thought of self-loathing. “This may have turned out to be a dud, we still have a case. Yours.” He said while dramatically pointing towards Muwatti.

“If I’m a case for the Winchesters, does this mean I’m a part of the _Supernatural_ tale now? I wonder what the title of the book would be.”

“Yeah, it will called ‘The Case of the Crazy Tablet Lady’” Dean snarked.

“I’ve said this before, I’m not crazy.” responded as indignant Muwatti. “So fuck you, you fucking piece of fuckiest fuck.”

Sam wasn’t sure how to react to that. Even now both of them were intensely staring at each other. All he could do was sit there in silence and stare at them, fully expecting for the situation to escalate and fists to be thrown. However his worries were for nothing. Both Dean and Muwatti just started laughing. Why are they so perfectly matched?

“That was one of the first things she ever said to me.” Dean clarified to him, when he saw the baffled look clearly etched on his younger brother’s face.

Sam asked her, where she even learn to say something like that. “From Bedřich. He really loved to swear while translating. Especially in English.” She answered with a smile, upon remembering the long dead historian. She really did seem to like him, he pointed to her, and she concurred.

“Anyways,” interrupted Dean, “Crowley had mentioned that together these three, Zagan, Uvall and Ronove, control almost eight million demons.” His brother pointed out. “Why aren’t we under constant demon attacks? What are they waiting for?”

“Because they don’t want to do that.” said Sam. “Just imagine what would happen if millions of demons started scouring the whole country looking for just one woman?”

“Dyewara. I mean, the angels.” marvelled Muwatti. “The Knights are worried about the angels knowing about me.”

“Does that mean that the only thing currently keeping the Knights away is that they’re scared of the winged dick brigade finding out.” Dean asked rhetorically. “Just fucking great.” He had to step out, as his phone started to ring. From his brother’s loose shoulders and relaxed walk, Sam knew that it wasn’t much to worry about. Probably not the Knights checking in twice in one day.

“Between the angels and the Knights, I know which one I’ll pick.” He heard Muwatti and asked her what she meant, “The angels, obviously. I’m not sure what those demons are planning for me, but I’m assuming it won’t be good. From what Castiel has told us, at least the angels will just kill me outright.”

“Are you really okay with dying?”

“I should’ve died thousands of years ago, just like my brothers and the rest of my family. I’m not even supposed to be here.” She paused to take a deep breathe before continuing. “And honestly there are worse things than dying.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me that.” He said while laughing and she joined in as well.

“Oh yes, the girls Siobhan and Maggie, gave me a condensed version of your lives. And what I want to know, are all hunters this chaotic or is it simply Winchester thing?”

“And deciding to raise lions at the age of ten is less chaotic? Or is it simply a princess thing?”

“Have you memorised everything that has been written about me?” She paused to shake her head, but she seemed amused with him. “Just so you know, lions and doves are considered to be the animal companions for Ishtar. And the ten year old me decided to raise lions at the temple complex, because saying ‘I raise doves’ didn’t sound quite badass enough.” Sam could see his brother enter the bar once more, from the corner of his eyes. “Not to mention, the lions were very useful whenever I needed to dispose of a corpse.”

“What?” Sam asked.

“What?” Muwatti replied.

He wanted her to elaborate, how could he not after hearing that. However as soon as Dean approached their table he told them they had to go back to the school. Someone else had disappeared right outside the auditorium. The girl who had been playing him.

“Maggie has disappeared? How? Neither of you found anything dangerous.”

Looks like they did miss something.


	16. Chapter 16

The three of them pretty much rushed to the school. Although Sam was sure that his brother would’ve very much preferred it was only the two of them two of them. Now that the chances of this turning out to be a real case had increased, his brother wasn’t really comfortable with bringing Muwatti this time. He knows that because Dean tried to use his ‘you’re going to have to listen to me, because I said so and I’m the older one’ voice, the kind Sam is way too familiar with and has heard practically his whole life. Which is why it was quite a shock to him when she just laughed at Dean’s face and told him that she would definitely be coming with them. And he spent the entire drive being grouchy at his younger brother, when finally Sam had to ask him what did he expect him to do, throw her over his shoulders and lock her inside the motel room. “No, of course not. But I don’t know, maybe we could’ve distracted her with some post-it notes and quickly shut the door.”

And after the two of them were dismissed by Muwatti for being too young and being dismissed by the teenagers for being too old, all five of them were now in the library, trying to figure out what they were dealing with.

“Great. How do you kill an idea?” Asked a dazed Maeve. Clearly still reeling from the shock that all the things they had read in the books were true. It was a rhetorical question, but Muwatti answered her nonetheless, “It’s simple. Threaten to throw the thinker and their loved ones in the plague pits outside the capital. No one would dare to have that idea again.”

By just looking at her, Sam could make out that she hadn’t even realised that she had just said that out loud. And also the fact that she had used her normal Hittite accent. In fact she seemed a bit distracted and was trying to massaging her temple with one hand. Weird. She had been doing fine back at the bar, is her headache from the afternoon back again?

Dean and Marie headed towards the basement to take care of the Scarecrow, while Maeve headed towards to the auditorium to do last check up on the props since the cops were leaving by now. He was sure the props were fine, most likely she needed to do something she actually had some control over, and didn’t involve fighting mounters. He stayed back to read up more on the flowers found outside at both the instances. Luckily before leaving Maeve was able to tell him that they were called Starflower or simply Borage. It might be a Tulpa, but he couldn’t let go of the feeling that these tiny flowers had something to do with the disappearances. Not for the first time, he wished he could access all the mammoth tomes and all of their information available in the Bunker’s library. If Charlie ever comes back from the Oz World, maybe she could help him digitise everything.

“Not how I’d expected this night to go.” He said while he ran his fingers through his hair in sheer frustration, as he threw aside what felt like the twentieth book before grabbing another one from the massive pile right on the table.

“How did you expect this night to go?” Muwatti asked, who was still in the library with him, while grabbing a book from the table for herself to read.

Maybe it was because he could feel himself slowly becoming cross-eyes. Or maybe because the only thing he found about the flowers was that ancient Greeks used it almost like an antidepressants, since they believed it could help in drive away dullness and feelings of melancholy. Whatever may have been the reason at the moment, but he found himself putting aside the book and replying back to her. “Well, it would’ve gone the same way as it always for us. I would’ve probably stayed back in the room and tried to catch up on the reading. Or watched some movie. And Dean would defiantly have gone out to score with he ladies. I mean, what I mean is that Dean - ”

“It’s alright. Knowing your brother, I think I know what ‘scoring’ implies. So Dean goes out to score but not you. Why is that? Is it because of the cursed penis?”

Fuck me and fuck my life. He was wondering when she’d bring that topic up. He had been hoping she’d forget, but nope, she was simply bidding her time.

“Wow. You just blurted that out didn’t you? How were you ever a diplomat?”

“Well, if your army was a few kilometres away from our borders, threatening to attack our people, you would’ve found exactly what kind of diplomat I am. Until then you’re just going to have to get used to me blurting things out, now aren’t you?”

“Funny.”

“I prefer witty.” She retorted back. Sam was learning that she has a hard time letting anyone else have the last word. “And if it makes you feel any better, unlike your almost, every person I’ve ever had sex with, has most definitely died.”

Not so surprisingly, no, it did not make him feel any better. But he found himself smiling and saying that maybe they just discovered the perfect title for their book. “You know, ‘The Cursed Hunter and The Cursed Princess’.”

She returned his smile with one of her own and said, “Better than Dean’s suggestion at least.” Her smile faltered just a little, her hand once more trying to massage her temples. He asked her if she was sure that she was fine. Or tried to at least, since she interrupted him before he could finish the sentence. “It must be quite awkward for you, having to spend so much time in libraries for your research.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because of the movie on your laptop. ‘Ms Daisy - Librarian in Heat.’”

“What? How did you - I mean, You - “

“Weren’t just being nosy with Dean’s - what’s the word I’m trying to say?” She thought intensely for a moment, when upon remembering she snapped her fingers. “Pornography,” Muwatti exclaimed. “I wasn’t going to mention it, but I just realised that all of the clothes you bought for me today,” she gave herself a cursory glance, “Are exactly what Ms. Daisy wears. Though not for long, as the clothes come off really quick. At least you didn’t get me her glasses.”

“Still can’t believe you used to throw people in plague pits. And lion pits.” Was the only thing he was able to blurt out.

“Did I say all of that out loud? I really must stop doing that. Or the very least, start saying them in Hittite.” She put the down the book she had been flipping through and not really reading much of it, and turned towards him. “I seem to recall saying my lions were given corpses, and not people. Why would I ever have them learn to attack living people? Every night they were allowed to leave the pit and roam free inside the temple complex, and obviously it wouldn’t have been a good thing if they thought of the people walking around as food. And I have never thrown anyone in the plague pits. I just needed them to believe I would throw them in the plague pits.”

“Why?”

“Because grown men don’t like taking orders from a fourteen year old girl. Or even a twenty-eight year old woman, honestly. Which is why I had to be outlandish when dealing with them. I needed them to think if I’m crazy enough to say it, I might just be crazy enough to do it, and that way the onus lies on them, whether they are stupid enough to risk my anger and punishment. I admit not the most eloquent thing to do, but the only one I could come up with, when facing a room full of angry fat nobles and perverted generals, half of whom were already plotting with my stepmother to kill me and the other half ignoring my instructions.” Hittite politics sounds intense. “Asking for help or advice was not an option, as everyone would’ve have pointed out that I’m not capable. Which was incredibly frustrating. The emperor listens to advice from diverse sources, and he’s considered to be a pragmatic ruler and an intelligent man, but if I do it, I’m a silly little girl. Or the fact that atti and my brothers did just as many horrible things as I did, but why do the historians insist on calling me and only me, a sociopath? Is it the same reason why people think Catherine the Great died while having sex with a stallion?”

The only thing he had to offer in the form of an answer was to point put that the historians actually just considered her to be an undiagnosed sociopath. And the only reply he got was the expression of ‘that’s obviously not the point I’m trying to make, dumbass’ on her face. As well as a deep sigh. Continuing her tirade must not have been worth it for her, she quickly changed the topic and asked him if he was able to find anything about the flowers. “No, still not able to pinpoint any connection between them and people disappearing. Right now. I’m just hoping it really is a Tulpa. Unless you have anything to offer.”

“The only thing that comes to my mind is having Dean touch everything here in the school, and maybe in a flash of bright light both the teacher and student would appear. Or maybe the disappearances are related to the deity currently living here. Because that’s what my headaches mean.”


	17. Chapter 17

The brothers assured Marie that they won’t let Calliope get her, while hammering in the point that she can’t tell anyone about anything. Not even her parents, who may not believe her but may just try to stop her from doing the play, which would make them the Scarecrow’s next targets. After that the three of them went back to the motel. They should be resting and preparing for tomorrow’s hunt. That’s what Sam wants to do, but that was going to be difficult.

“Son of a bitch, Muwatti. Why didn’t you tell us about your headache-inducing god-detecting talent of yours?” Asked an incredibly agitated Dean, in the middle of pacing across the room, while Sam sitting on one of the beds in the room.

On the other hand, Muwatti, sitting on the opposite bed, appeared calm. Though Sam did notice that she was tracing and retracing the star tattoos on her hands. “It wasn’t my intention to hide anything from you. It’s just that I was hoping that the case and the presence of a god were separate incidents. My experiences with gods from back home weren’t exactly good, to say the least. They were my gods and I was used to dealing with them, but that didn’t stop them from fucking with me. Which is why I wasn’t going to mess with a completely unfamiliar one.” Sam interrupted her, asking her wasn’t she Ishtar’s favourite priestess. And like clockwork she corrected him, “High Priestess actually. My proximity to Ishtar may have given me protection and power, but you have to appreciate the irony of being the favourite of the goddess of love and then having to spend the rest of my life always losing the man I love. So how would being the favourite of something like that can ever be called a good thing?”

“How can you say that?”

“Because I not a good person and I did horrible things to a lot of people in the name of god and none of the them cared enough to ever stop me. Gods are not magnanimous beings that care about our wellbeing, Sam. They are merely tolerating us, until the day comes when they simply decide they don’t want to continue the farce anymore. Or if they feel that we are beginning to defy their status quo.”

Dean pointed out that they’ve handled plenty of gods on their own. However Sam couldn’t help but think that maybe they just haven’t messed around with the status quo yet. His brother continued, “You can spout all that god business as much as you want. But do you realise if had clued us in about a god being at the school earlier on, then maybe Maggie wouldn’t have disappeared.”

“Of course I realise that.” She stopped to take off her shoes. “Fuck the damn things. I wasn’t able to think in them. If I had any suspicions about Calliope taking the girl or about her plans to eat Marie, I would have told you everything. But when both you and Sam concluded that there’s no case here, I thought my wishes came true, and the schoolteacher had simply gone somewhere and more importantly, there was no threat to anyone here.” Hearing that Dean let out a frustrated groan and stormed out of the room. She asked Sam if his brother was really that angry with her.

He assured her that it wasn’t really her he was mainly angry at. Dean had probably been thinking the same thing, cause he certainly has been. How could they miss something this big? Were they really that distracted by the stupid play that they prematurely made the decision to walk away? He must have been, otherwise why did he need prompting from both Maeve and Muwatti, to really figure out the meaning behind the flowers and realise that Calliope was behind this shit? Yes, Muwatti didn’t tell them about what she knew but she wasn’t responsible for what happened this evening. The only ones they had to blame for Maggie’s disappearance is themselves. They’re the hunters, not her. “Don’t worry, he’ll be back once he’s cooled off enough. May just even come back with some grub - I mean food.” Sam has to remind himself that she may know about Nazis but her knowledge about slangs was still lacking.

“Honestly I can’t really even complain. I mean, it could’ve been a lot worse for me. I’m still being shouted at by an angry man who continuously makes the mistake of forgetting that I literally hold all the power over him, but luckily for me I also get to watch you walk around all wet, in just a tiny towel.” He had a sneaking suspicion that she forgot to switch over to Hittite. Whether he was supposed to hear that part or not, he remembered that he had done just that this very morning. But he didn’t do it on purpose, he just forgot to bring his clothes with him. However he does that quite often, because he feels like a giant in these motel bathrooms.And mostly because he had gotten used to living in small spaces with Dean, and for the longest time it has been the two of them. He even does it in the Bunker sometimes. Dean may have said something about it a long time ago, but probably gave up since it didn’t have any affect. He probably should just go to sleep, it would be the smart thing to do, as they had a hunt after all. However what he actually ended up doing was ask her how did she manage to wrangle the nobles. She must have, otherwise her tenure as the Chief Priestess would certainly have been cut short.

“You really want history lesson right now?” He pointed out how she had spend a good portion of the day getting to know about the brothers’ lives and pretty much enjoying herself, so it only seems fair that he gets to ask his own questions now. 

“Prince Mattizawa was next in line for the throne of the Mitanni, but got ousted by his uncle. In the hopes of getting revenge against the new King and getting the throne back, he came to their greatest enemy for help, the Hittites. Unfortunately for him, he failed to garner any support from anyone at Hattusa. Having his uncle, who was an atrocious ruler, on the throne was quite beneficial for us. So why would anyone agree to spill Hittite blood just to help our enemy and make him stronger once more? But he was determined.”

“And then he approached you for help?”

“More like thought he could seduce me, so that I’ll convince my father to help him. Or the very least one of my brothers. One night he decides to sneak into the temple and then into my bedchambers, when he knew I would be all alone. He told me about his plan, however I offered him a counter-proposal. Instead of the Hittite army, I’ll send him back with at least two dozen of my spies. He’ll use his lifelong knowledge about the secret passages into the capital, and they’ll swiftly kill off not only the king but also several of his uncle’s supporters in the middle of night, in their sleep. And by the time morning comes along, his revenge will be complete. Although I did add several stipulations go my own. He’ll have to marry my half-sister, Nuzizi, and while he would rule the region of Mitanni, it won’t be as the king, but as the governor of Mitanni, because we will be usurping the region.” Sam was amazed that anyone could agree to such terms. Was he blinded by his need for revenge? Did he not try to renege on there terms? “That’s the problem with showing your enemies’ spies all the secret tunnels into the your city, you might just end up being assassinated in the middle of the night. But none of that mattered to him, as long as his uncle wasn’t sitting on the Mitanni throne. The plan goes as expected and three days later I was able to present the former kingdom of one of our enemy to atti, also assuring him that his descendants are the ones that will be ruling the region in the future.”

“And that’s when the nobles and generals finally started taking you seriously?”

“Fuck no. They were too busy throwing all new fits saying that I acted recklessly and I had no right to take such drastic steps. Or they would’ve if I hadn’t laid another condition for the prince. After taking control of the region and surrendering it to me, he also handed over evidence that certain aristocratic and military families were conspiring with his uncle. And upon conducing raids on their estates, Mitanni gold was found there. Which is why I had to act on my own and couldn’t risk discussion or any delay-”

“Because there were traitors among your ranks. And let me guess all the people Mattizawa mentioned were in fact the supporters of your step-mother. In one swoop, you not only erased one of your greatest enemy but also removed any opposition from the Hittite court.” Hence cementing her status as her mother’s successor and the second most powerful person in the empire. And all because one stupid enemy prince just happen to walk into the temple one night. It was pure luck. “Except it wasn’t luck that made Mattizawa come to you?” She asked him what he meant by that. “How was he able to just sneak inside the temple complex at night, when during that time it would’ve been overrun by the lions?” Muwatti looked like he had just slapped her. Guess this time she couldn’t have the last word, he may have enjoyed himself a bit too much thinking that. “Even if he had been told that your lions don’t go around attacking people, he still couldn’t be a hundred percent sure to actually risk walking amongst them, especially when he had been rejected by everyone and would’ve have presumed the chances of you helping him would be pretty low.”

“Sam, I don’t understand what you’re trying to - ”

“Unless there were no lions roaming around that night. Because you made sure that they didn’t leave their pits that night. As well as making sure he would find you all alone.” After being left speechless by her throughout the day, now he was the one that left her without any word. And to be honest, it felt good. A bit too fucking good. 

Muwatti certainly looked like she wanted to slap him. But she chose to take off her jacket and undo her hair, gently massaging her scalp and combing through the knots. “Smarter Winchester indeed, and you’re right. It was one of the prince’s new drinking buddy that let it slip that the emperor’s beloved daughter and more importantly his most valued advisor was going to be in the temple complex in the lower city and not in the palace that night. And yes, the gates to the lion pits remained closed that night.” She paused to let out a loud chuckle. “All of which stayed a complete secret for almost three and a half millennia, and Sam Fucking Winchester figures it all out.” He asked why even bother keeping her methods a secret at all. “The narrative, of course. He choses to barge into my bedchambers, asking for my help, in return for it I have my own stipulations. Completely rational expectations. So you see, he was one so blinded by revenge that he willingly surrendered the kingdom of his ancestors to their greatest enemy. Which just makes me a good politician, willing to take advantage of every opportunity that would benefit my empire and permanently neutralise an enemy. As well as neutralising the threats faced by my family and the empire from within.”

“On the other hand, if you’re the one who made sure that he came to you, with you being fully prepared to strong-arm him into agreeing with anything that you wanted, then - ”

“Then I’m a conniving little cunt that stole a kingdom from poor little Matti and gleefully planned the deaths of my countrymen.” He was going to say an undiagnosed sociopath. “I had to learn the importance of a narrative at quite an early age.” Yeah from birth, as her parents pretty much flipped the narrative of their baby daughter being poisoned to start of war for land. And years later their teenage daughter will take down that very kingdom accused of poisoning her. Fuck, that is good narrative. “Narratives are helpful for not only deciding in how you’re perceived but also in understanding others. For example, the narratives in the pornographies consumed by your brother and you.”

He did not want to hear this and quickly stood up to walk away. But was stopped from doing so, when Muwatti stood up as well and blocked his way.

“Safe to say, Dean’s tastes are eccentric, and I think the reason behind it is that he thinks he’ll never get the great love and long-lasting companionship, as long as he’s part of this life. That is why he has decided why bother with the mundane and the ordinary. He’s convinced himself that doesn’t deserve it, so might as well make it as fantastical as he possibly could. Entertaining, but essentially fleeting and makes it easier to not get attached, and simply move on. On the other hand, yours is much more plausible and simpler, not just because of how time you spend in libraries. Even if you’re not necessarily fantasising about highly unprofessional librarians, but it’s almost as if even your most torrid dreams you need to have an element of realism and substance to it. Because for you, if it is not possible that it can actually happen, then it’s not worth it. Because for you it’s the realness that’s the thrilling part and not the overindulgence or the over-imagination. Because deep down that is your greatest desire. So Sam, was I close enough?”

Honestly, a bit too fucking close. Whatever high he had been riding on, over figuring out her centuries old schemes, had now disappeared. She really needs to have the last word. It was only part irritating and part thrilling for him. But instead of answering her question, he asked her how she’d describe her narrative for sexual preferences.

“I guess, the same way I like my politics. Powerful and chaotic.” She said with a laugh. It was light and melodious and sweet, like he could hear music playing at a distance. It was a laugh he hadn’t heard from her, despite the fact that she’d spend the majority of this day laughing at the existence of the Carver Edlund’s books. Sam wondered if his brother had heard this laugh from her, whether in person or in her dreams. And almost missed the next part she said to him. “Undress me, Sam.”

It was only when she raised he arms and showed him the cuffs that he remembered that she needed help with the buttons. After taking a deep breathe, he got to it, bringing this day to a full circle.While the dressing room from the earlier part of this day was much more confining than the motel room, but somehow he felt that they were much more closer now. Or maybe it was because they were looking into each other’s eyes the whole time. Soon enough, all of the buttons were undone, and Sam could feel himself lean down and was pretty sure Muwatti was tilting her head towards him, but would never get to finds out since they were distracted by the door openly loudly.

Dean was back with several bags of food. Fortunately. Regrettably.

He was trying to come up with an explanation, though his mouth was quite dry. But no explanation was needed, because after giving them a quick cursory glance, his brother snapped his fingers and said, “Oh right. Buttons.”

“Yes, buttons. Sam has been helping me with them. Pretty sure I can do them on my own now.” said Muwatti, while calmly stepping away from Sam, who still hadn’t started breathing again. “Did you bring me fries?” Dean pointed out that she never told him to get her some, so no, he hadn’t brought her any fries, while emptying the bags on the table.

“You know what,” said Sam, now that he had regained his ability to inhale and exhale once more. “I’ll get some fries for you. Meanwhile, you should, I mean why don’t you, you know,” he said while gestured wildly towards her and her unbuttoned shirt, “get ready for bed.” However that just made her raise a single eyebrow at him and smirk. He should just leave, which he promptly did.


	18. Chapter 18

There were still a few hours left before the play would begin, and Dean was already done. Up until now he had been living his life quite happily without ever knowing that stage left is actually the right side of the damn auditorium, but after being shouted at by a bunch of drama nerd kids for always walking in the wrong direction, he does know that and his life has not become better even in the slightest. And why are there no many curtains everywhere? How is he supposed to keep an eye on Marie and keep her safe, if there are half a million fucking curtains everywhere, obscuring his view and getting in his way? Why couldn’t Calliope stalk the pervy directors of a porno, like Casa Erotica? It would have so much better, there’s only one set involved with those things. But no, she just had to pick a stage play based on their lives being done by a bunch of teenagers, cause the universe decided ‘let’s make sure Dean Winchester is screwed on all the levels’.

Sam agreed with him, not only was the back stage basically a maze with everyone running around like headless chickens but also was going to be pitch black once the play begins, which is exactly when the muse and her minions would attack. He hates the theatre so much.

“Tell you what, I should stay left and you right.” He said to Sam.

“I think, you mean you’ll be at stage right and I’ll be at stage left.” Sam corrected.

“Really, Sammy? There really should be a limit as to how many types of nerd you can be.” Dean raised his hand started counting with his finger, “I mean, there’s Harry Potter, serial killers, computers, theatre and not to mention history.”

Upon hearing ‘history’, he noticed that Sam couldn’t help but glance towards where Muwatti was, with some of the girls, helping them set up, but mostly talking. His little brother had been squirming around her since the last night, when he unceremoniously ran out of their room. He wondered what these two had been discussing before he came back sans Muwatti’s fries. Did the little bitch make another blunder with her? But no matter how much he pushed Sammy, he refused to talk or say anything. And by now he knew better that he won’t get much out of the princess. Though he just had to ask her about the clothes, that Sam brought for her last night, though they didn’t seem any different from what she had been wearing beforehand. Just regular t-shirts, though they did fit her better. “Yes, it does seem strange. He was supposed to get fries, but came back with these new shirts. But in a way it makes sense why Sam just had to get them for me.” He asked her how come. “Quite simple really. None of them have buttons.”

Now he was even more confused. Why the hell would her buttons make Sam so nervous?

* * *

Muwatti was standing in the corner of the stage, watching the girls rushing all around her, setting things up. She could see Dean trailing behind Marie, completely on alert. She couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t left the young writer’s side for even a moment. They had arrived at the school early in the afternoon, and while the the brothers surveyed the auditorium and discussed their plans, she got to spend the day with the students of St Alphonso Academy.

Despite the fact that her atti had several children with many women, she never felt like she was a part of a large family. One of the first things Henti taught her to children was to always remember that they out-rank their half-siblings and even their whore mothers, and to always assume that they are the competition and at best, were meant to be treated as pawns and bargaining chips. And they never questioned the empress because from a young age, they simply learned to accept that no one goes against Henti and her commands and there was no point in even trying. Even though what she truly wanted, was to leave everything and run to Zuwa and his eyes.

But she didn’t and he never even got to know. There’s no point in thinking about him and everything, however now that her memories were unlocked, she can’t help but think about what he would have done. What she would have done.

Even after Henti’s disappearance she did nothing to change her life or even try to deviate from anni’s plans for her. There were always many reason not to. Because there was work to do, the empire comes first, survival of the capital was at stake, her atti needed her, her brothers had to protected, the Egyptians were once again trying to capture Kadesh. If not her then who else could sort the mess. Or maybe she just liked power too much. Or maybe she was afraid that the lost empress will come back one day and be completely disgusted by the fact how weak her daughter really tuned out to be.

And now that she was finally free from all the duties, responsibilities and expectations, she’s having a hard time figuring out what her life is now or what to do with it. While in the tablet, she had a lot of time to think and reflect about what kind of person she was and all the things she had done, if only to make a list ofthe people who could’ve done such a thing to her. However the one thing she never really thought about was what would she do if she ever leaves her dark and infinite prison and is finally free from this curse.

What is she meant to do now? She can’t live as if nothing has changed, because it absolutely bloody has. Her previous life wasn’t an easy one or even an always happy one, but at least she knew what to do. All her life she wished she could go against Henti’s commands, but now what she really wanted was to have her anni come back and just tell her what do to.

But anni is not coming back and she doesn’t have time to find the answers to her questions right now. Hence Muwatti ended doing the only thing she could do and she had always done, she ignored them. Besides she can’t be distracted when Calliope could manifest at any moment and eat poor little Marie. Which is why for now she was going to focus on getting Maggie and Ms. Chandler back. As a former missing woman herself, that’s the least she could do.

* * *

With the show about to start, the cast and crew was busy doing last minute costume checks. Sam was on his way to join his brother on stage, after fetching the blessed stakes from the Impala, when he froze after seeing Muwatti standing just off-stage, facing away from him. And was instantly reminded of his stupidity from last night. Not only did he run out of their room as if it was on fire but also went to a store in order to buy new shirts for her, sans buttons. He could still feel Dean’s eyes boring into him when he saw the new items of clothing, trying to figure out exactly what new blunder he made with her. And this time he didn’t even do anything. He really did not do anything. Except let his smugness lure him into a false sense of early victory. She figured out his fantasies by looking at what kind of porn he watches, so what. It’s not that great of an accomplishment, if you really think about the whole thing, it’s pretty easy to do. Duh. It’s the most obvious conclusion anyone could make.

So why did he run? And why has he been avoiding, but not really, but absolutely avoiding making eye contact with her the whole day?

And the only answer he could come up with is that damn arrogant princess smirk. When he handed her the clothes before all of them left to grab breakfast, and when she noticed the severe scarcity of buttons on them, she had same damn smirk from last night. The kind of smirk that says ‘I’ve destroyed literal kingdoms and princes by simply being ruthlessly smarter than everyone, and I can do the same thing to you, not because I have something to gain but because I enjoy watching a giant peasant like you squirm, all the while really do having better hair than you in all respects’.

He fully realises that he may be overthinking all of this. Although on the other hand, he may have come up with another book title for them, ‘Squirming Hunter and Ruthless Princess’. Wait, hang on, is it just him or does it sound like the title of pornographic parody of Snow White?

“I have a question for you, Sam,” Muwatti interrupted his thoughts, without even turning around to face him. He’s only the second plaid-covered man lumbering around in a sea of costumed teenagers, which makes him pretty hard to miss. “Compared to you I’m almost half your size and have the upper body strength of a new born lion cub, then why exactly am I making you fidget so much?”

Sam Winchester has faced literal monsters without any hesitation or second thought, but the idea of facing off with her and her smile, no not smile, smirk, makes him want to run away.

_(Kinda like when you were fifteen and were made the chemistry partner with the head cheerleader, and the moment you found that out, you immediately marched your butt to the office to change your entire schedule and skip that class altogether. You had the credits and dad would’ve made us move soon enough anyways.)_

Really not the time to have the voice of his big brother in his head. He can’t afford any distractions, if he wants to survive when facing her as an opponent.

So does that mean Muwatti and him are at war with each other?

_(Which would make it all the more powerful and chaotic, little brother. Not to mention real, very much real.)_

Upon not receiving any reply from him, she turned around and said, “Really Samuel, silence is your only reply. Because refusing to answer me and spending the entire day ignoring me isn’t what I’ll call mature adult behaviour.” And the damn smirk was back.

Fuck. He already lost the first round.

A group of girls, all clad in black and headsets, being led by Maeve passed them by, which he soon realised were the crew members finishing their last-minute checks. Pretty soon they will start letting people in. He could see from the corner of his eyes, and not because he still can’t look at her, that Muwatti’s smirk was gone and was replaced by a sombre smile.

“I’m actually glad that you and Dean brought me here today.” He’s pretty sure that Dean basically accepted that he wasn’t going to change her mind, and they recognised the advantage of her god-detecting skill when trying to protect Marie from Calliope. “And not just because the girls told me about the different fan-fictions written on the two of you.” She added with a smirk, which means he lost the second round as well. Fucking brilliant. “It’s just that seeing them, reminded me of my priestesses and priests back in Hattusa. They would have the same frantic energy and nervous panic, when preparing for our hundreds of rituals and festivals. And it also reminded me about how much I miss them. Mostly because, unlike my family members, they don’t have their own Wikipedia pages, and I have no idea what happened to them after my disappearance. They were my responsibility and I was duty-bound to keep them safe till the day I would’ve died.” Now she was avoiding looking at him.

“And then the tablet happened.”

She let out a deep sigh before continuing, “Yes, the tablet. I got trapped and they ended up getting lost to history forever. And now I have to learn to be alright with that. Which makes it only one of the hundreds of fucked up things I need to figure out for myself.” The next part, she tried to whisper, but he was able to make out, something along the lines of, in addition to figuring out what exactly her life is now. She then asked him if they were ready to face Calliope. He answered yes, while momentarily raising the blessed stakes. He asked her about her headache and if she could feel the goddess of epic poetry nearby. Muwatti touched the back of her neck and said, “The pain is currently at the back, which means that she’s trying to keep herself hidden. As she becomes more prominent, the pain will start moving to the front of my head, and the moment it’s right here,” she pointed right in between her eyes, “and absolutely unbearable, her manifestation would be complete and she’ll be at full power.”

“How do you stand it? The pain, I mean.”

“I’m stubborn.”

“Is that why you’re decided to wear the evil shoes? Cause after yesterday, I was sure you’d burn them.”

She looked at her her heel-clad feet and smiled, before looking up back at him. “I did want to, but it almost felt like admitting defeat. And the thing you need to know about the Hittites is that we never admit defeat, no matter what. Years before I was born, my uncle, Emperor Tudhaliya III, wanted to sue for peace in middle of particular ghastly war campaign, which was stubbornly refusing to go our way, my sixteen years old atti beheaded him in front of the whole army just so he could declare himself the emperor and win the damn thing himself.”

Why does he get the feeling that Suppiluliumas and John Winchester would’ve got along really freaking well?

More importantly, did they just declare truce? Or was it simply a detente?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Will try to be more regular. Had been feeling unwell and decided to take things slow for a bit. Anyways enjoy and would appreciate any feedback.


	19. Chapter 19

It’s showtime, Dean thought. Or it would be, if only Marie would stop stalling, by dragging out her introductory speech. However with the flip of a switch by Maeve, and the opening chords could be heard by the entire auditorium, forcing the young director to haul ass. He had to admit, the song was fine, enjoyable even. And by that he means the tune was catchy, cause the lyrics need some work.

He could see Sam on the other side of the stage, while he was on the side with Maeve. And Muwatti, who asked him what was their plan. “Simple enough. Protect the kid. Kill Calliope. Don’t die.”

“That’s not a plan, Dean. Those are your objectives.” Her face clearly showing what she was thinking, how did these two morons manage to save the world multiple times. “What are you going to do if Calliope just animates everything else from the play or simply decides to appear right in the middle of the stage and kill everyone here, and then grabbing Marie. It’s what I would do.”

“Son of a bitch Muwatti, why would you even think something like that?”

“Why aren’t you? A good strategist doesn’t just think of plans, but also goes over their every weakness and strength, for proper defence as well as increase the efficiency of the attacks.”

However before he could say anything to that particular statement, he saw the Scarecrow walk right out of painted background. Right behind Sammy. He tried to warn him, frantically gesturing him to turn around. But he couldn’t make the little bitch understand.

Fuck.

Without a second thought, he ran as fast as he could. However he was too late. His brother had been taken away. And his problems had just started, since he turned around to face the stage, only to find that Muwatti was no where to be seen either. She had disappeared as well.

Fuck. Fucking fuck.

* * *

Who stuffed cotton in my skull?

That was Sam’s first thought, as he started to regain consciousness. His second thought was that he’s not alone. There were voices. Was that Muwatti? Why is she here? How is she here?

“Despite how he looks right now,” he heard Muwatti, while using her American accent, say to the other voices, “He is a capable and competent man. I can assure you both that he does this sort of thing quite regularly. And as I’ve recently learned, has an excellent success rate.”

“How are you so calm about all of this?” Said the younger of the voices. Maggie. “When the Scarecrow brought me here to the basement, I was a sobbing mess, scared shitless.”

“Not the first time I’ve been magically trapped by someone or something. At least this time I have company.”

Here’s hoping that none of them have to spend as long as she had to in that damn tablet, Sam thought as he opened his eyes, only to see the blurry image of three pairs of legs. The first thing he does after standing up is to try to open the basement door, though he knew that it would be a fruitless endeavour. That’s when Calliope materialised. He had barely taken a step towards her, before he was flung forcefully back and pinned to the door.

Calliope stood right in front of him, wearing a smug and satisfied smile, as if she had won already. Doesn’t really make a difference, so many other were also confident, which changed the moment they meet his brother and him. “I’ve consumed many authors. Many stories. But tonight, as soon as that curtain opened. I knew something special was brewing with this one. Maybe it was because the story’s actual inspirations are here. I don’t know. However even I couldn’t have expected a story where the lost Hittite princess would also be joining us.” She said, turning towards Muwatti, who had positioned herself between the goddess and the other two.

How the hell does Calliope know about that? Why the hell does she know anything even remotely related to Muwatti? What else does she know? Were some of the questions running through his mind. And pretty sure Muwatti’s as well. Sam could see the shock on her face. He could also see how tightly she was clenching her fists, with beads of sweat on her forehead. With the goddess right in front of her, the pain must have become excruciating. She was also taking deep breaths, forcing herself to keep it under control. Well, she wasn’t lying when she said she was stubborn.

“You were smart enough to change your voice, but you should’ve also hidden your tattoos.” Calliope pointed towards Muwatti’s hands, specifically at the symbols of Ishtar. “Those stars are a dead giveaway, princess.”

Muwatti looked down at her hands and when she looked up, she had the smirk on her face. Except this time he wasn’t at the receiving end. She now spoke in her normal accent, while gently pushing the student and teacher duo towards him and away from Calliope. Taking advantage of the muse’s distraction, they quickly joined him in that corner of the basement. “I had no idea that I was a prominent tale for the members of the Greek pantheon. Here I was thinking my fandom exclusively consisted of balding scholars of history. Anyways it’s always good to meet a fan.”

Is she seriously trying to sass a goddess? What the fuck Muwatti?He tried to give another go at separating himself from the damn door, but was unsuccessful. As expected. Guess Calliope wasn’t that distracted enough.

“I’m hardly a fan princess. The only reason I know who you and what happened to you is because Ishtar never stopped talking about you. Her favourite. She also never failed to mention how one day you’d come back. Both you and your mother. Turns out she was only half right.” Calliope added bitterly. Something Muwatti noticed as well, as she remarked that Calliope doesn’t seem to like Ishtar, but why. The goddess let out a sound that was half scoff and half snort. Sam recalls Dean once making that sound while eating pie. “I dislike the sheer audacity of her. After your lot disappeared, she became Astarte for the Phoenicians, who brought her to the island of Kypros, just south of Sparta, for whom she became Aphrodite later on.” All the while Calliope was speaking, Muwatti slowly started to circle around her, forcing the goddess to turn mid-rant. That meant her back was now towards the still pinned to the door Sam. “Just sprung up from the ocean one day and arrogantly assumed she’s the same as us.”

“Not surprising. Her cults have always had deep associations with Venus. And before Hittites came along she was Inanna for Sumerians and Astoreth for the Canaanites. Partly because humans will always desire love and war, and partly because Ishtar is a shrewd and smart creature. Certainly a lot smarter than you.” What is wrong with this woman? Does she think she can solve all problems by insulting and antagonising them? “I have no idea where she is, but something tells me she’s not whinging about centuries old feuds, all the while rotting in some underground squalor reminiscing about her past days of glory.”

When he saw Calliope raise her hand, about to attack, Sam knew hisfears came true. He heard someone shout the word no. He would later realise it had been him and his voice. He could see Muwatti’s face and her smirk being covered in purple light. Which is why he didn’t miss her saying a bunch of Hittite words, though the only thing he was able to make out was “Pahsnu.” Sam and his brother would later learn it was a basic Hittite protection spell, used in defence against a magical attack. Basic or not, turns out the female Hittite pope was powerful enough to not only deflect Calliope’s attack and send her stumbling back few steps but also, more importantly, released Sam from the invisible bonds that were pinning him to the door. He was free. Shocked, but free. Though he suspected not as shocked as the goddess. 

Calliope straightened herself as fast as she could, but it was apparent that she was out of breath and most definitely was not expecting something like that. Seeing the muse in her now jumpy state, just made Muwatti smirk even more. Sam thought about if that smirk had the power to fend off gods, what chance did he have. He slowly started to approach both of them, after taking out the blessed stake for his pocket, hoping against hope that Calliope won’t turn around.

Thankfully she never even got the chance, since Muwatti continued talking, or rather taunting. “My dear Calliope, do not feel bad that you can’t hurt me.” Despite the fact that her tone made it abundantly clear that the goddess should feel most definitely bad. “I managed to hold off attacks from Isis, Osiris, Horus, and Anubis, at the same time for three days, before they had to return back defeated. Twice, in fact. And they were incredibly powerful beings.” Or maybe she just bragging. Why three days though? “While on the other hand your power primarily consists of inspiring writers and poets. Maybe you would’ve had better luck throwing a book of poems at me.”

Just eight more steps. Please just keeping looking at that smirk.

“No wonder you were her favourite. Just as arrogant as her. Just as conniving.”

Six steps.

Five steps.

“I prefer strategic. And do you want to know what’s another good strategy?”

Four steps.

Three steps

“And what would that be, priestess?”

One step.

“Distraction.”

And right then, Sam stabbed Calliope, with as much force as he could muster. For a moment, nothing seemed to be happening, and they two of them started to step away from the now stiff Calliope. Then her eyes started glowing, before exploding and sending little splashes of warm purple goo on his and Muwatti’s legs. While surveying the disgusting mess currently covering their feet, both of them simultaneously said, “High Priestess actually.” Their necks snapped up at the same time, with the two of them looking at each other. Sam could see the same smirk on her face, which he must admit had started to grow on him now. And then both of them bursted out laughing. Her having the same sweet and melodious laugh from last night. However they stopped when they remembered they weren’t alone. He turned towards the other two, who were holding onto each other for dear life, and saw their shocked expressions. Maybe it was because of the still warm goo covering a good portion of the basement floor, maybe it was the sharp stake that he picked up once more, maybe it was Muwatti’s changing accents. Or maybe their expressions had to do with the visual of the two of them laughing like a bunch of maniacs over the dissolved remains of a deity. Who knows.

* * *

With her laugh quickly dying, Muwatti gave the strange viscous liquid covering her feet another glance and unfortunately some had even splashed on the new shirt bought by Sam. Are liquified remains of exploding gods easy to wash off or should she just burn the clothes? On second thought she will most definitely be burning them. She was also put off by the fact that the play must have gone beyond the point she had been looking forward to with anticipation, where they sing 'Single Man Tear'. Damn you Calliope. Muwatti tried to look on the bright side, thinking at least she had been able to listen to the song numerous times during the rehearsals. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when she started to feel the familiar pain once again at the back of head. No. That’s impossible. There can’t possibly be a second one. Right? Certainly not an ally of Calliope, it would’ve surely come to help her. And also it felt a different. Whatever it was.

All four of them left the basement and headed towards the auditorium. The whole way Sam was finalising the story of a crazed kidnapper hiding in the basement, who unfortunately wasn’t there when they found missing student and teacher. Seems a bit too simple and too preposterous at the same time. But at least Maggie and Ms. Chandler would have something to explain away their disappearance and eventual reappearance. As long one doesn’t have to wait for almost three and a half millennia for a rescue, one would be willing to come up with a whole plethora of silly stories.

The whole way back to the theatre, Muwatti could feel the pain increasing. The closer they got to the auditorium, the stronger the pain became. They were right at the door to the theatre, when she turned towards Sam ,to tell him that there might be another one. Another god, somewhere. However upon entering the auditorium, the pain completely disappeared. Like it was never there. No one was shouting or screaming, no one was hurt or had gone missing. Did she really feel the pain? Or was her mind playing tricks on her? If nothing is wrong, should she still say something? They don’t have the luxury of staying. After hearing about the discovery of the student and teacher, the police officers would want to ask them questions, something the brothers would definitely not want to do. If nothing was wrong and there wasn’t any danger to anyone and whatever it was was no longer here, then wouldn’t it be better to not say anything? Hopefully she’ll never have to meet this other god to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation
> 
> Pahsnu - to defend 
> 
> Feedback is appreciated


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read notes at the end before, for trigger warning.

“I’m not being ‘invasive’, Muwatti, as you are accusing me of. I was only asking about your god-fighting magical abilities, and why didn’t you share something as goddamn big as that. Again. Son of a bitch.” Shouted an irritated Dean, while resisting the urge to pull over the Impala, only to scream on top of his lungs at the heavens, and more importantly, at her.

“I do not have magical abilities. I certainly don’t have the ability to fight gods. And as far as the telling you part, you have seen my family, did they look like the kind of people who would encourage information-sharing and open-dialogue? If there’s something I have decided to not talk about, I bloody well will not talk about it.” Countered an incandescent Muwatti, while trying to convince herself that she shouldn’t order Dean to drive all of them off the road, and into a really big tree.

_“Who was fighting a god? Was this a case? Hello? Am I not audible? Hello?”_ Asked a thoroughly confused Castiel, currently on the phone, and on the speaker, more accurately.

And an exhausted Sam was trying and failing to fight off his headache, while regretting so much. Especially the fact that he was surrounded by children. Very loud and very immature and incredibly headache-inducing children.

His brother momentarily looked towards him, as if to ask why are you being so damn quiet. Well, of course he’s not saying anything.With his track record of putting his foot in his mouth when it comes to Muwatti and the volatile nature of the conversation/interrogation happening around him, and Dean really doing his best to be the bad cop, him saying basically fucking nothing was the best thing Sam could think of doing, thank you very much. Dean made his ‘yeah, you’re probably right brother’ face and decided to drop the subject.

They were on the road once more, just a few hours out of Michigan, and would be driving all night. The media attention over the missing women of St. Alphonso Academy being found safe and sound, was quickly garnering a lot more media attention, which is why they needed to, quite literally, distance themselves from the whole circus. Not the first time they had to do such a thing. They had a good head start and all in all, it should be an easy drive. Or at least, it would have been, if it wasn’t for certain emotionally stunted people currently trying to out-shout each other. It didn’t start that way at first, since initially things were peaceful and calm. The brothers had realised that they never got the opportunity to discuss the call from the Knights with Castiel. Since he had to keep Muwatti a secret from Hannah and by extension all the angels, he couldn’t freely talk to them about her, quite so easily. Luckily for them Hannah seemed to have developed an interest in long baths for some reason, so they’re supposed to have almost an hour to talk, where he could step out without making his companion suspicious. Sam had tried to summarise their last two days, since the call with the Knights, when in the middle of it, Dean abruptly snapped at Muwatti about fighting off Calliope, and then she snapped back at him, basically telling him to fuck right off, for thinking he can shout at her for two days in a row. And now Sam could feel a migraine approaching.

“You know what your problem is, princess,” said Dean, “You just love being annoying and difficult. But especially love annoying me, which is why you’re trying to get out of answering anything.”

Maybe that’s why the Mark created this weird bond between these two, cause if that didn’t exist, they would have definitely killed each other already by now.

“I may be difficult and annoying, but at least I understand the difference between preferring pie as a food and desperately needing it as a substitute for mental stability and emotional comfort.”

_“Hello? Did I call at the wrong time? Oh wait, you guys are the ones that called me to talk about the Knights, and then proceeded to completely ignore me.”_ If he had the phone in his hand, Sam would've hung up already, after telling Cas that they’d call him later. Unfortunately the phone was in his brother’s tight grip, almost to the point of being crushed into pieces.

“Don’t you dare say anything about pie. What the fuck could possibly be wrong with pie?” Dean spluttered, barely containing his frustration with the Hittite princess and her distaste for modern deserts.

“I don’t like the texture, and it is like way too sweet for my liking.” Muwatti retorted back, making her frustration with Dean and his loyalty to his favourite baked good abundantly clear.

“Kinda makes sense,” Sam said out-loud, “Crystallised sugar had not been invented when she was around. Honey would’ve been the sweetest thing she’d ever eaten.”

“Shut up Sam. Who genuinely gives a flying fuck about sugar facts, you giant nerd?” Dean reprimanding him.

“Does this look like an appropriate time for a history lesson on food, Samuel?” Muwatti also reprimanded him.

Were they this bad when Dean was still a demon? Did Crowley also get the urge throw himself out of the car mid-drive? Should he call the demon to start a support group for themselves? And after tonight, surely even Cas would be able to join them.

Though honestly, like his brother, he too would like some answers from Muwatti. The problem was that these two are just a bit too similar. Especially the quick to react part, alternating between responding with aggression and sarcasm part, really loving to shout part, refusing to surrender or backdown part, and always trying to establish dominance and power over each other part. Or even the most obvious one being, the absolute refusal to share any piece of information, because they have decided they don’t want to and you simply don’t need to know, and you just have to get over it. Which meant that they were really good at pushing at each other’s buttons, all the while being thoroughly unproductive and fully headache-inducing. Safe to say, both love the ‘it’s fine, I’m ignoring it’ approach to emotional intelligence. Or more accurately, complete lack thereof. 

Sam could see Muwatti in the rearview mirror, could see her turning her face away from them and out the window, up towards the sky. She continued talking while still looking out. “Why is it so dark outside? Where are those long light pillars?” Sam explained to her that they weren’t using the main roads, which would have the streetlights, as they wanted to avoid detection. Instead they were using the less frequently used and rarely maintained backroads. At least there was plenty of moonlight all around them. However that didn’t seem to reassure her as he had thought it would. She peeled her eyes away from the glass and turned towards the front, which meant he could see her tense expression quite clearly in the mirror once again. Does the darkness bother her?

_“Muwatti doesn’t have magical powers.”_ Hearing that certainly made his brother and Muwatti pay attention to the angel on the phone. _“Oh, now you guys shut up and finally decide to acknowledge me?”_ Oh great, Cas is really brining the sass tonight, isn’t he? _“While she doesn’t have magical powers, however as the Alhuesragal and the Tawananna, she had to memorise certain spells.”_ How could he know so much, Muwatti asked. _“My garrison were posted outside Hattusa, and would’ve sensed if you had ever done anything substantially strong. That was our mission, to keep an eye on you and your mother. Mind you, your mother’s warding made it extremely difficult, as the empress most certainly did have magical abilities. It was only during the times you were closer to the city walls, could we do a proper assessment. It started around the time you were only a few months old, when either the emperor or the eldest prince would carry you around in their arms near the boundary walls, during their inspections of the capital’s defences. You were a very happy baby.”_

Knowing the angel, both the brother assumed that Castiel must’ve really thought that it was fine enough thing to share, maybe even a sweet little memory. But the way he said it, it definitely belonged in the creepy category. Sam snuck a glance at the mirror, expecting to see her horrified expression, after hearing how a whole bunch of angels had been keeping an eye on her, throughout her life since she was an infant. However she only had a blank look on her face.

“How much older was Arnuwanda than you?” Dean asked her.

“He was already fifteen and married, by the time I had come along. Telipinu was fourteen and yet to become a High Priest, Piyassili was twelve, Mursili was born ten and half months before and Zannanza was perhaps a few minutes older.”

How come there was almost a decade separating the siblings, Sams asked, almost without thinking. The question was directed towards Muwatti, however Cas was the one who answered it. _“That’s because just before Piyassili was born, Henti and Suppiluliumas had a falling out when he raped her head handmaiden and fathered a girl, who would become Muwatti’s head handmaiden, called Ninshubur. They continued working together as the emperor and the Tawananna, but it was clear to everyone that theirs was no longer a relationship of husband and wife. Which is why when the youngest of the empress’s children were born one after another, the whole empire was quite scandalised, with half of them thinking that he finally snapped and had assaulted her and the other half thinking that she had committed adultery against the emperor and was trying to pass off her bastards as royal children.”_

“Why the fuck would you know any of that, Castiel? By the hands of Ishtar, you’re worse than the judgemental giant over here.” She said, as she aggressively pointed towards Sam.

_“Just being outside a city and staring at the walls is incredibly boring, we had to do something to pass the time. Fortunately everyone passing in and out of Hattusa was more than interested in talking about it. Your family really loved being chaotic, didn’t they?”_

He’s not that judgmental, right, he silently asked Dean.

“You have the audacity to say that my family was chaotic, when your familial spats ends with either the apocalypse or the armageddon, you winged dick.”

Dean silently replied back to him, ‘you kinda are Sammy, just look at how many salads you eat, all the while making sure that everyone around you knows that you eat them’. Fucking brilliant, now his food choices are being mocked as well.

_“You should know better than to talk like that, princess. I suspect it’s because you’re spending too time with Dean.”_

“Is that dyewara purposefully trying to aggravate me?” She asked Dean, who could only reply with a weak no, not really, and that Cas was just being Cas. “Can we just decide to not speculateabout my parents’ sex life? Preferably till the end of time.” He and his brother wholeheartedly agreed. “You know what, let’s just get back to the previous topic of discussion. I finally feel like sharing, if it means Castiel will stop talking about my family. I sucked so hard at the magical spells and stuff. Even during all the festivals, the other priests and priestesses would arrange everything, and I just had to show up at the end and basically perform theatrics. However Anni was the one with real magical talents. She didn’t just learn the spells, she was quite adept at creating new ones. And the way she talked about it, her mother’s powers were unparalleled. Not that I would know, all of my grandparents were long gone before even Arnuwanda was born. Which is why she assumed that her daughter, her only daughter, would also inherit the generations old mystical talents. Unfortunately, my real talents lay in policy-making and trade negotiations, diplomacy and treaties, and taxes. Which is why I always tried my best to avoid and ignore anything related to magic.” 

Oh, that’s the reason why she has been so abrasive this whole time, it suddenly dawned on Sam. The Bronze Age princess was definitely not the kind of person who’d want to talk about her shortcomings, especially when it was related to her mother. From what he has been to make out, the empress wasn’t the kind of woman who hid her disappointments, particularly when it came to her children.

“Well, Henti’s the one who named you ‘father’s strength’. So the way I see it, it’s really her fault that you turned out more politician than a goddamn magician.” Dean pointed out, who seemed to have completely let go of his previous irritation with her. A bit too easily, Sam thought. Is it because of the disappointing the overbearing and over demanding parent, for whom every failure and mistake is a matter of life and death? Which he has to admit, he gets it as well.

_“Are we back to ignoring me again?”_

Seriously. There must be a reason. Why _is_ everyone in his life such a drama queen? It’s like he simply attracts them and has been collecting them all his life.

“Now that I think about it,” continued the newest addition to his weird as hell menagerie, “my extra special magical blood should have totally helped in accelerating my abilities. However it fucking did not. The only thing it has done, as far as I can tell, is like make me a target for angels and demons. Which is just brilliant, I tell you.”

Is it just him or has she started using the words ‘like’ and ‘totally’ a lot now? Guess that’s what happens when one spends nearly two days hanging arounds teenagers. It definitely did wonders over her ease of use of slangs in her conversations. And for the past few days, her vocabulary was improving as well. Pretty soon she would be able to handle idioms as well. Not that he’d ever say any of that to her. Muwatti would absolutely get Dean to punch him, for daring to speak about her in such a condescending manner. And his brother would definitely do it without even being ordered to do so.

_“Despite not having your mother’s prowess or mastery, you certainly could put on quite an impressive display, when you wanted to. I still recall the amount of energy you had managed to generate, when you had summoned most of the Egyptian pantheon.”_

Why did she need to do such a thing, he asked aloud, remembering what had happened back at the school’s basement. Which seemed to make Muwatti laugh, though it sounded a lot like a snort. “You’re been positively gagging to ask about that this whole time, haven’t you Samuel?” What can he say, except guilty.

_“That’s because she had - ”_

She interrupted the angel to shut it, pointing out that she can tell it herself. “I had arranged for the poisonings of Pharaoh Ay and a few years later, of Pharaoh Horemheb. And I couldn’t have their gods trying to save either of them, basically ruining all my plans. Which is why I needed them as far away from Waset as possible, which is now called Luxor, I think.”

_“The poison didn’t just keep them in unimaginable agony for the whole time, but when death finally came for them, and their bodies were being prepared to be mummified, it was found that their internal organs and flesh could not be properly preserved, effectively ruining the entire mummification process. Scarring their very souls, ruining them in the afterlife itself.”_

“Why would you do something like that?” He asked her, doing his best to not look at her reflection in the mirror.

However Dean was a lot quicker at figuring out than him, since he answered the question, “Zannanza. You did all of that for him, right?”

Muwatti leant forward, with her arms crossed and resting on top of the seat, her chin resting on her arms. Her right elbow barely touching his left shoulder. He knew that because he turned around to see it himself, which also meant he couldn’tavoid looking at her face anymore. She wasn’t looking at either of them, but at the road ahead of them, with a blank expression. “No matter how much I tried, I could never prove that it was them who were behind Zannanza’s disappearance, behind his death. But I knew, I just knew that they certainly played a part. They definitely took joy in our pain. Not that proving anything would’ve made a difference, since I couldn’t very well drag them to a court somewhere. The most that could happen was that we would go to war against them, and atti already did that. He defeated them, humiliated them, vanquished their army, conquered their territories in southern Syria. Atti avenged his son by doing things his way. But none of it was enough for me.” She turned away from the road and looked at him, right in his eyes, making it impossible for look away. Did he want to look away? He was the one who asked her after all, doesn’t seem right to avoid it all now. Doesn’t seem right to avoid her. “How could it? I lost the most precious person in my life and they rejoiced over that, Sam. They thought we deserved it, because we dare thought to create an alliance between our people and our countries, to put an end to the generations-long hatred and violence and war. So I avenged my twin by doing things my way. It’s just that the end of their lives, didn’t necessarily mean the end of my rage.”

Another similarity between these two, Sam thought, they certainly know how to hold a grudge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mention of rape and assault. No graphic depiction.


End file.
